


Fall for me

by lunarmooon



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, Kind of a slow burn, Romance, Some Fluff, later angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:42:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24741739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarmooon/pseuds/lunarmooon
Summary: Dahyun's friend Mark wants her to help him ask out Sana and she agrees. The only problem is, the more she helps Mark, the more she finds herself falling for Sana.A Saida College AU, inspired by/loosely based the movie The Half of It(Background ships include Michaeng and 2yeon)
Relationships: Im Nayeon/Yoo Jeongyeon, Kim Dahyun/Minatozaki Sana, Myoui Mina & Son Chaeyoung
Comments: 48
Kudos: 268





	1. The Story Begins

**Author's Note:**

> *The age difference has slightly been shifted so Dahyun's a freshman and Sana's a sophomore.

7:40 A.M. Crap.

Dahyun ripped her gaze from the clock on her desk, shoving two blank notebooks and a handful of pens into her backpack. She hastily zipped it up and slipped it over one of her shoulders, cursing the fact that she had only woken up just five minutes earlier. She kicked off the slippers she was wearing, attempting to change into a pair of grey sneakers while simultaneously trying to keep her balance.

She hopped a couple times in front of her dresser as she put on her shoes, bumping into the hard wooden surface on one occasion. “Ouch,” she grumbled as she finally finished putting on her shoes and stood on two feet.

Dahyun briefly glanced into the mirror to make sure nothing seemed too messy. She grabbed an unwrapped chocopie from a drawer before exiting her dorm room. She jiggled the door knob a couple times to make sure it was locked before putting on her backpack properly.  
  
Dahyun could hear the elevator ding from down the hallway and she quickened her pace, hoping to reach the doors before they closed. Her footsteps thudded as she raced towards the closing elevator.

The blonde girl inside the elevator glanced up at the sound and immediately stuck her arm between the doors. The elevator reopened and Dahyun slid in, slightly breathless. “Thank you,” she told the girl.  
  
“No problem,” she replied smiling and Dahyun finally got a better look at the girl’s face. _Oh wow._ Her first impression was that she was really pretty. Really really pretty. Maybe it was her warm brown eyes or her adorable squishy cheeks or her cute smile but Dahyun couldn’t keep her eyes off her face. 

Dahyun’s cheeks reddened when she realized she may have been staring too long and shifted her gaze towards the closed doors. Thankfully, the other girl had been busy looking at her phone and hadn’t noticed the staring.   
  
The doors opened at the first floor and the girl walked out, giving Dahyun a quick friendly smile and wave before exiting the elevator. A small blush grew on the pale girl’s cheeks as the doors closed and the elevator moved further down to the ground floor.   
  
The elevator ding snapped Dahyun out of her daze and she walked out. She headed down the corridor, passing by rows of benches lined up on the left side of the wall. She turned the corner, finally spotting one of her roommates waiting for her on one of the benches.

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" Dahyun exclaimed.

Chaeyoung giggled at Dahyun’s frazzled expression as she hurried towards her. “You look like a mess,” Chaeyoung commented. "And it's fine, I wasn't waiting very long."

Chaeyoung stood up, eyeing her best friend's face. “You’re kinda red. Are you sick?”

“It’s cause I ran to catch the elevator,” Dahyun grumbled. “I can’t believe I woke up late. It’s only the second day of classes.” She brushed back the random strands of hair plastered on her face, trying to neaten herself up as much as possible.

“Tzuyu and I tried to wake you but you were literally passed out. Tzuyu even tried shaking you awake,” said Chaeyoung. "She was probably gonna slap you too but I dragged her out of the room before she could."

Dahyun sighed. “I appreciate the effort. I don’t know how I’m going to survive this semester if I can’t wake up on time.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have signed up for a three hour long lecture at 8:00 am,” Chaeyoung teased. “We did warn you, you know.”

Dahyun grumbled and shoved her friend lightly. “I see that now.”

“Did you have a chance to eat breakfast?” Chaeyoung asked as they walked out the door together and towards the academic quad.

Dahyun pulled out her chocopie. “This is gonna be my breakfast,” she said as she ripped open the red packaging and bit into the soft treat. Chocolate had never tasted so good.

“That’s so unhealthy,” said Chaeyoung.

“You do what you have to do to survive,” Dahyun shot back as she munched on her favorite snack. “Besides, not everyone is lucky enough to have a girlfriend to eat breakfast with.”

Chaeyoung blushed at the mention of Mina. It’s been three months of them dating and yet every time she heard people describe Mina as ‘her girlfriend,’ it made her heart flutter. She still couldn’t believe that this amazing girl wanted to date her. They had met last semester in the fall, with Chaeyoung being an incoming freshman. They sat next to each other in an art class and had instantly clicked during the first week.

Arguably, their entire group just somehow instantly clicked together, despite the varying ages and majors. They had all randomly ended up living on the 3rd and 4th floor of Bates Hall last year and had bonded within the first two months of classes. There was Nayeon and Jeongyeon, juniors who had practically adopted the three youngest members at first sight. Then there was Jihyo, their beloved RA that ended up becoming their second mom. Mina and Momo came as a pair, both sophomores who came from the same high school in Japan. And lastly there was Tzuyu, the third roommate of Chaeyoung and Dahyun’s triple. With a mix of loud and chaotic people versus more quiet and calm people, it was a miracle that the 8 of them got along so perfectly well. They spent all of last semester hosting gatherings and game nights at each other’s rooms once the weekends hit, ate meals together whenever they were free, and overall supported one another during stressful exam weeks. 

“Speaking of Mina,” Chaeyoung began as they began to walk out the door and towards the academic quad. “The welcome back party for her roommate is gonna be tonight at 7.”

“She was the one who studied abroad in Japan last semester, right?” Dahyun asked, trying to recall the few times the upperclassmen had mentioned this girl. There wasn’t much she knew about her. Although Mina’s roommate was close with all of the upperclassmen, Dahyun had never seen her before. She knew that she was Japanese and had decided to study abroad in Japan because she was feeling homesick but that was just about all she knew.

“Yup, that’s her,” said Chaeyoung. “It’s gonna be in Jihyo’s room.”

Dahyun raised an eyebrow. “I thought we agreed on Nayeon’s apartment?” Nayeon, Jeongyeon, and Momo had opted out of a dorm this semester and had found a nice apartment near campus that they could share together.

“We moved it to Jihyo’s cause Nayeon says her place is still messy. Apparently none of them have finished unpacking even though they had an entire week to.”

“Alright, sounds good,” said Dahyun as she made a mental note to swing by Jihyo’s room at night. “Do you think I should bring anything?”

Chaeyoung shrugged. “If you want to. I think it’s just going to be a chill party, nothing too special.”   
  
"Okay, I'll probably just try to bring snacks in that case."

The two reached the entrance of the academic quad. They quickly said goodbye to one another before heading off into their respective classes.

* * *

  
  
Sana thrummed her fingers against her desk, glancing at the clock. Two more minutes until lecture begins. She had come to class roughly ten minutes early and was seated in the front row. Her laptop was set up and ready to take notes. Sana absentmindedly scrolled through her email but glanced up at the sound of the door opening again.  
  
She had half-expected the professor to walk through the door but instead a short dark-haired girl hurried in. A small smile appeared on Sana’s face as she recognized the cute girl to be the same girl she ran into in the elevator this morning.  
  
The girl glanced around the nearly filled lecture room and Sana found her flustered struggle to find a seat quite endearing. _What a cutie._  
  
The girl’s eyes briefly glanced at the empty seat besides Sana before flickering up to her face. Their eyes briefly locked and Sana’s smile turned into a flirty one. Sana tilted her chin slightly to the side, subtly inviting the girl to sit next to her.  


A blush grew on Dahyun’s pale cheeks and her heart jolted. She quickly averted her gaze from the blonde girl. Her eyes found another empty seat all the way in the back and she hurried her way towards it before her cheeks could get any redder.  


_Ugh._ This was the second time today that she blushed and both times were caused by the same person. Dahyun hated blushing in front of others. The act of blushing was embarrassing enough but the fact that her pale skin easily revealed it made it so much more embarrassing. And it wasn’t like Dahyun to blush this frequently, especially not because of a random girl she had seen twice in her entire life. She’d been a rather confident person around girls in high school and was rarely fazed by the attention and interest she got from others.  


So why were her cheeks burning like crazy? Dahyun finally reached the empty seat in the back, her head slightly ducked so that her dark hair could somewhat cover her face. She quickly pulled out her notebook and pens from her backpack, trying to calm down her thudding heart.  


Sana smirked when the girl turned red and jerked her gaze from her. She was a little disappointed that she didn’t sit next to Sana but found her reaction amusing. Her attention, however, quickly switched from thinking about how to ask the girl for her number to the chemistry professor, who had walked in and introduced himself.

Dahyun wanted to slam her head against the table. This was not her day. It was barely 8 in the morning and she'd already embarrassed herself. She glumly sunk into her seat as the professor began to talk.

Her phone resting on her desk suddenly lit up. Dahyun shot a discreet glance at it, reading the text she had just received.

**Marko polo 8:05am: yo tofu are you free for lunch at 12? I need help**

**Marko polo 8:05am: and i want to catch up**

**Dubu dubu 8:06am: yeah, bayers for lunch?**

**Dubu dubu 8:06am: what kind of help**

**Marko polo 8:06am: girl help duh**

**Marko polo 8:06am: and yeah bayers sounds good**

Dahyun rolled her eyes at that. She had known Mark Tuan for almost 3 years now, ever since they met in high school when she was a sophomore and he was a junior. And he hadn’t changed one bit since, always falling head over heels for any pretty girls he met and begging Dahyun for help.

**Dubu dubu 8:07am: bruh**

**Dubu dubu 8:07am: heads up you should know by now that i suck at that**

**Marko polo 8:09am: still i want your help**

**Marko polo 8:09am: so bayers at 12 right?**

**Dubu dubu 8:10am: yeah yeah see you then**

Dahyun glanced back up towards the board. The professor was almost finished with going over the syllabus, none of which Dahyun had paid any attention to. She shoved her phone in her pocket and picked up her pen, trying to return her focus towards the speaker.

Instead, her eyes slowly drifted towards the blonde girl in the front who was diligently taking notes. _Damn. Even the back of her head was pretty._ Dahyun chastised herself and forced her eyes back to the professor. 

Dahyun was usually an excellent student. Last semester, she was exactly like the girl sitting in the front of the room. She’d always pay attention to her professors and had her pen and highlighter ready to write down every single necessary detail. Except now, no matter how hard she tried, her professor’s words went through one ear and out the other. 

By the time the lecture was almost over, Dahyun had her bag packed and ready to go. Normally, she’d respectfully wait until the professor finished talking before packing her bag but she had no desire to blush for the third time today from the same girl. She needed to get out of this classroom as fast as possible.

Her feet were angled at the door and the second class ended, she made a run for it. The blonde girl was looking down and starting to put away her things and Dahyun darted out the door. Part of her chastised herself for running away from the really cute girl, but today was not the day to embarrass herself any further. She slowed her pace once she reached the hallway and headed for the dining hall.

After a few minutes of walking, Dahyun finally reached Bayers Hall. Dahyun searched the dining hall, scanning the tables lined up near the windows for her friend. She frowned when she couldn't spot him at their usual spot and continued walking.

"Over here tofu!" she heard a voice yell from behind her. She spun around to see Mark catching up to her. "You should get your eyes checked tofu, you literally walked past me."

"You weren't sitting in our normal spot," Dahyun pointed out defensively.

"Okay sorry sorry, I'll let you know next time in advance if I decide to switch it up a bit." Mark gestured to her to sit down as he returned to his seat.

"How was your day, Dahyun? You seem a little..." Mark pauses. "Out of it?"

"It's nothing serious. I just think I made a fool out of myself this morning," admitted Dahyun. Mark raised an eyebrow and leaned forward with interest, silently nudging her to continue. "I saw this cute girl in chem and I think she wanted me to sit next to her but I guess I uh...avoided her and ran away?" Dahyun felt herself beginning to turn red as Mark laughed at her.

"Shut up," Dahyun whined.

"You useless lesbian," he snickered. "I need girl help but I'm starting to think I shouldn't ask you."

"No tell me," she insisted. "I want all the tea."

Mark rolled his eyes at her. He began to fiddle with his half-drunken soda. "So there's this girl," he began.

"Yes, yes that part we all know," Dahyun jokingly interrupted.

Mark ignored the interruption. "It's the same girl I mentioned to you last semester when I was abroad."

"She was in the same study abroad program as you right?" recalled Dahyun. She reached over to Mark's plate and stole a fry as he began to speak.

"Yeah. We didn't have any of the same classes but we have the same mutual friends so we all hung out together and explored Japan. I've never really had the chance to talk to her one on one but I really like her," he said. 

"Then why don't you just go up to her and ask her out on a date? She's somewhere around campus. Or just text her."

Mark snorted. "Funny coming from the person who literally ran the other direction when a cute girl smiled at you." He stopped fiddling with his drink, becoming a little more serious.

"It's not that simple," he says softly. "She's...different. And I don't want to treat her like any random other girl."

"I still don't really understand where I come in," Dahyun pointed out.

"I have her number but I never really know how to start a conversation. I want to get to know her better before I ask her out but I don't know where to begin," Mark explained. "And you're pretty good at sliding into girls' dms from what I've heard. So I was wondering if you could start the conversation for me?"

Dahyun hesitated. "That seems like a pretty huge responsibility. It's literally a hit or miss and I don't want to mess this up for you."

Mark shook his head. "You'd write something better than I could ever think of," he said. "Even if it doesn't end up working out, I still want you to help me."

"If you're a hundred percent sure, then okay. I'll do my best," she promised. "Now hand over your phone."

Mark grinned. "Thanks dude. You're amazing." He opened up the girl's contact info and gave the phone to her.

Dahyun's eyes flickered to the name. "Her name's Sana?" In the back of her mind, she swore that name sounded familiar but she pushed away the thought.

Mark nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. She's from Japan."

"Maybe she'd get along with Mina and Momo," Dahyun joked as her fingers hovered over the keyboard. 

"Maybe," Mark chuckled.

"Okay, I have two choices for you. Either you slide in with the most randomest question you can think of or you can just say hey.”

Mark made a face. “Saying hey just sounds dumb. And I don’t want her to think I’m weird if I ask her something random.”

"But that's how you interest her," she pointed out. Dahyun typed out something and before Mark could stop her, she pressed send. “Now all we have to do is wait.”

“Wait what?” Mark grabbed his phone back from her hand, panicked. “You asked her what superpower she would want?? Are you serious Dahyun?!” he yelled.

Dahyun stole another fry from his plate and jumped up from her seat. She ran away cackling as Mark chased her. “It’ll work, just trust me,” she laughed.

“Dubu, I’m never trusting you again!” Mark bellowed as he continued to chase her across campus. This went on for a couple minutes until the phone in his hand buzzed. Mark stopped running and checked the incoming text message. 

**Minatozaki Sana 12:31pm: Very random Mark but consider me intrigued. I’d say teleportation haha**

**Minatozaki Sana 12:31pm: Hbu? :)**

Mark felt a grin growing on his face at the smiley face Sana had sent. 

Dahyun noticed that Mark was no longer chasing her and instead was stupidly grinning at his phone, to which she ran back up to him. “She replied, right?” she said smugly. 

“Yeah,” Mark said happily. “Although I still don’t forgive you for sending that without permission.”

Dahyun stuck out her tongue. “I told you it would work.” Mark rolled his eyes.

* * *

Later that night, Dahyun held two grocery bags filled with shrimp chip bags in one hand as the other knocked on Jihyo’s door. The door opened a few seconds later and arms were thrown around Dahyun’s neck. “Dahyun!” Jihyo exclaimed happily. “I haven’t seen you for a while!”

“It’s only been a month unnie,” she laughed as Jihyo affectionately ruffled her hair. 

“Well, you still need to tell us what you’ve been up to during winter vacation! Let’s drop the snacks off in the kitchen and then we can all sit down,” Jihyo said as she reached and took one of the grocery bags out of her hand. “And we need to introduce you to Mina’s roommate! I think she’s somewhere near the kitchen.”

She led Dahyun towards that area and when they turned the corner, Dahyun swore her heart jumped when she saw Mina’s roommate hanging out by the counter with Momo. _Oh no._ It was elevator girl.

The girl’s head turned towards them once hearing the sound of Jihyo’s voice. A smirk grew on her lips as Dahyun’s face became hot.   


“This is Dahyun!” Jihyo announced as she pulled Dahyun closer to the girl. “She’s one of the maknaes we were telling you about!”

The girl stepped forward, smiling. Her eyes seemed to be scanning Dahyun up and down in a way that made her feel self conscious. Warm brown orbs settled back on her face. “Nice to meet you Dahyun. I’m Sana,” she says sweetly.  
  


_Well, shit._  



	2. Touchdown

Dahyun had never felt so stupid. There was that one time in high school where she literally got a 18% on an alegbra 2 test and even that couldn't come close to how dumb she felt at this moment. 

_Mina's roommate studied abroad in Japan and she's Japanese. Mark likes a girl in the same Japan study abroad program who is Japanese._ And the name Sana sounded so familiar when Mark mentioned it. How the hell did she not put two and two together?

And it was just her luck that the first person she was instantly attracted to this year just so happened to be the same girl that her close friend was literally head over heels for. She wanted to groan and bang her head against a hard surface but she couldn't do that with her friends watching.

"You seem like you already know each other?" Momo asked as she studied Dahyun's surprised face.

Dahyun struggled to respond and Sana immediately jumped in. "Oh we’ve met. On the elevator this morning and she’s in my chem lecture. I guess it was fate, wasn’t it?” said Sana, winking.

Dahyun gulped. _Oh my god._ This girl was going to be the death of her.

"Sana, don't tease Dahyun. She just got here," said Jeongyeon as she appeared from behind, tugging Sana's arm. Dahyun flashed her a grateful smile. 

"If you two are in the same lecture, what about lab sections?" Mina asked.

"Oh! I haven't even thought about that. I'm in the Wednesday lab," said Sana. "What about you, Dahyun?"

"Also Wednesday lab," Dahyun replied and Sana broke into a happy smile. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"If we become lab partners, I'd consider that to be fate too," Sana said cheekily. 

Dahyun felt a smile growing on her face and so she bit her lip. "Oh shush," she replied, gently pushing her arm.

"Uh excuse me if y'all are done flirting, please join us for monopoly," Chaeyoung yelled from the living room. Dahyun shot her a glare that went unnoticed because Chaeyoung's attention had already been stolen by Mina.

Most of the group was already sitting down around Jihyo’s coffee table, helping to set up the board and organize the fake money.

"We're playing in teams," Jihyo explained as they approached the game table. "Tzuyu, Jeongyeon, I are a team, Mina and Chaeyoung are obviously together, and Momo and Nayeon are a team. You guys can either form your own team or join the ones that have only two people."

Dahyun glanced over at her best friend and Mina, who seemed to be getting too comfortable with one another and decided never in a million years would she want to be stuck on the same team as them. She exchanged glances with Sana, who seemed to be thinking the same exact thing.

"Team?" Dahyun offered.

Sana flashed her a grateful smile. "Yeah, let's do it."

"You should have joined my team when you had the chance," boasted Nayeon. "We're obviously going to win cause I'm a master at this game."

Dahyun raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh it's on."

* * *

"Are you kidding me?!" Nayeon screeched as she landed on Connecticut Avenue. 

"Pay up unnie," Dahyun said smugly. 

"I don't have enough money," Nayeon grumbled. "I call bankruptcy." She scowled at the Monopoly board. Her ego was particularly hurt after having loudly boasted to everyone that she and Momo would win this game.

"Nice," giggled Sana and high-fived Dahyun. 

"That was all you," complimented Dahyun. "You're the one who decided to buy Connecticut Ave."

"We make a pretty good team, don't we?" Sana flirted. Her eyes glinted mischievously as she leaned closer to Dahyun, placing a hand on her lower thigh. After spending the whole evening being teammates with Sana, she had quickly learned that Sana was naturally a flirt and very touchy. But that didn't make it any easier to resist her.

"Y-yeah, I guess we do," stuttered Dahyun, her mind going blank and her heart racing as her eyes locked onto Sana's warm brown ones. She was frozen under her intense gaze as Sana invaded her personal space even more.

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Jihyo’s hand shot between their faces, breaking the tension. 

Sana removed her hand from Dahyun's leg and pouted at Jihyo. “Why? I’m just teasing her.”

"You're making her blush like every five seconds!" 

"Also we all made an agreement last semester," Nayeon chirped up. "We don't date anyone else in this group. So no more snaking, Sana."

"That's a dumb idea," Sana scoffed. "I did not have a say in any of this. Also, what about Mina and Chaeyoung?"

"One, you were not here last semester to see this lovebirds being gross all the time," said Nayeon as she pointed to the couple cuddling on the couch, having been the first to reach bankruptcy in Monopoly. "And two, we made that decision after they started dating. It’d be awkward if there was more than one couple in this group. We all agreed that we didn't want the extra drama."

"Hey we're not that gross!" Chaeyoung protested.

"You're literally resting your hand on Mina's ass," Jeongyeon pointed out and the couple simultaneously turned red. 

"But anyways, just so we avoid being that stereotypical group of gay friends that date each other, we're strictly off limits," said Nayeon. "These two especially." She gestured towards Dahyun and Tzuyu.

Sana rolled her eyes and laughed. "Alright, alright. I get it." She leaned away from Dahyun, and Dahyun sort of missed the feeling of being close to her. "It's still a dumb agreement, though."

"It's just so none of us get hurt," Jihyo reassured. "Besides there's plenty of people on campus that are interested in you, Sana."

"Like that guy that randomly texted you!" Momo blurted out.

Surprised and interested faces all focused on Sana, who for the first time turned pink. Her face was filled with a mix of flusteredness and annoyance at Momo for bringing it up. "I told you that in secret!" Sana said through gritted teeth.

"Well, not so secret anymore," said Nayeon. "Now spill Sana."

It was pretty funny seeing Sana all red and embarrassed for once but Dahyun wasn't as amused knowing the reason why.

"This guy in the same study abroad program as me last semester just texted me out of the blue," Sana explained. "I guess we kinda hit it off well."

"A guy?" questioned Jeongyeon.

Jihyo squealed with excitement. "Does this mean you're finally going to date again?"

"Since when do you talk to guys?" teased Nayeon.

"Shut up," Sana whined. "Right now we're literally talking as friends. Nothing more."

"Doesn't sound like nothing," Jihyo teased. "Especially if Momo knew about it."

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean? Sana and I tell each other everything!" Momo pointed out.

"Exactly!" Sana exclaimed. "So it's really not a big deal. Anyways, I don't think I want to seriously date again anytime soon."

"Okay, good point," said Jihyo as she backed off from the topic. "But if something does happen, we better be the first to know."

Sana grimaced and scoffed. “As if.”

* * *

“So I met Sana yesterday night,” said Dahyun.

Mark immediately sat up straight the second he heard his crush’s name. “Really? She’s cute, right?” He grinned. 

“Yeah,” Dahyun had to agree. "She's really cute."

“Don’t get a crush on her,” Mark teased. “I called dibs.”

Dahyun rolled her eyes at that. “Of course I won’t,” she responded, a little too firmly. “But Mark,” she began. “We have a problem.”

He knit his eyebrows together, the smile sliding off his lips. "What? What is it? Did she say something?"

“Okay, I guess there’s two problems,” said Dahyun. “One, it turns out she’s Mina’s roommate so we’re in the same group of friends. And two, she mentioned you yesterday at the welcome back party. Or at least Momo accidently did and Nayeon made her tell everyone."

"So what did she say?" Mark asked. “And how is being in the same friend group a problem? You can ask her about me and see what she thinks without it being suspicious.”

There was a voice in the back of her head that warned her not to spill too much, but at the same time, it was something Mark should be aware of so that he didn't get his hopes too high. "She said that right now you and her were only talking as friends," said Dahyun. "And she mentioned that she's not really thinking about dating anytime soon. As for being in the same friend group, it feels a little bit wrong to talk to her about you. I’m fine with helping you write texts and things like that but anything more seems like it’ll cross a line.”

Mark didn't look too happy with the news but he sighed. "I get that. I guess I just have to try harder," he insisted. "I just need to convince her. I can't keep texting her random questions; I need to do something more. I tried writing her a letter too but I'm horrible at writing and it made me sound so stupid." Mark looked a little hopeless and Dahyun felt some pity for her friend. She had seen firsthand of Mark's … unconventional style of writing that would often drive his English teachers crazy.

Dahyun bit her lip, knowing she was going to regret what she was about to offer. "Tell you what," said Dahyun. "If you show me the letter, I'll rewrite it for you so that it sounds better." There was no need in letting Mark get rejected by Sana just for his bad writing, especially if Dahyun had the time and ability to help him with it. 

"Wait really? Dubu you're literally awesome." Mark dug out a crumpled ball of paper from his backpack and handed it to her.

Dahyun wrinkled her nose. "How neat," she said ironically as she unraveled the paper and tried to smooth out the creases as best as possible. Her eyes scanned his messy handwriting, internally cringing at the cheesy things he wrote. 

"Yikes," she muttered softly as she read on. "You literally wrote 'you make my heart feel like goo'? What is that even supposed to me?"

Mark redden. "See I told you it was bad! I don't know how to put my feelings into words," he groaned. "I don't know, the way she smiles at me just makes me feel like goo. I don't know how to explain it otherwise."

"Um okay," she said, unconvinced.

"It's beyond fixing," he moaned out.

"No no we can still make it work," Dahyun insisted. She had to admit, there was a LOT to fix, but she was confident she could pull it off. She pulled out a scrap paper and her trusty black pen. "I will help you write the best goddamn love letter ever." She gripped her pen, determined and began to write.

_Dear Sana,_

* * *

Dahyun made sure she was early for her lab. To be fair, it was in the middle of the afternoon rather than 8 am in the morning, which made it much easier for her to be on time. She quickly found the right room after getting off the elevator and entered.

Dahyun's eyes immediately landed on Sana, whose blonde hair had stuck out from the dull gray walls. She was hunched over her lab table and looked as if she was writing something down in her notebook.

Dahyun hesitated at the door for a moment, wanting to choose her seat wisely. There weren't too many students here at the moment, considering that there was still 7 minutes to go until lab officially started. The lab benches were organized into pairs and yet the majority of the students here sat by themselves, including Sana.

She knew that sitting next to Sana probably wasn't the best idea, especially since the blonde girl would most likely spend the entire period teasing her and making her blush. But then again, it wasn't guaranteed that they would be lab partners today anyways and it would be a nice gesture to go up and say hi.

Dahyun pushed away her hesitation, mustering up a more confident demeanor. She wasn't going to let Sana make her flustered this time. She held her head up high and walked over to Sana, sliding into the seat next to hers. "Hey Sana," she greeted.

Sana looked up from doodling flowers on her lab notebook. Once she saw that the voice belonged to Dahyun, she immediately perked up and a bright smile grew on her face.

"Hey Dahyunnie," she replied back cheerfully.

Dahyun almost melted at the sight of her cute smile and the nickname Sana had just given her. _So this is what Mark meant when he said Sana makes his heart feel like goo._ Well, not exactly goo. Dahyun thought the feeling was more like gooey chocolate, something so warm and wonderful. In a way, Mark’s cheesy words kind of made sense now. Sana and Dahyun had literally met yesterday and yet Sana had such an effect on her already. No wonder Mark was so whipped for her.

"Since when am I 'Dahyunnie'?" Dahyun asked, grinning happily.

Sana shrugged adorably. "It just popped in my head," she admitted. "But it fits you! A cute name for an even cuter person."

"Oh...thanks," Dahyun managed to stammer out.

Sana giggled and leaned over to pinch her cheek. "You're such a cutie, Dahyunnie." 

Dahyun's face burned, especially around the area where Sana had pinched her. _So much for being cool around her._

She turned her head towards the speaking lab instructor instead, hiding her face from Sana. Sana chuckled softly at how adorable Dahyun acted when embarrassed but decided she would leave the girl alone until the professor finished talking.

"Look to the person next to you and introduce yourselves," the professor instructed. "They'll be your lab partners for the first half of the semester. Afterwards, you will be able to choose your own partners for the second half of the semester."

Dahyun turned back around to Sana and smiled sheepishly. "Guess you're stuck with me until then.”

"I told you it was fate," Sana joked back.

Dahyun rolled her eyes at that, her smile becoming wider at Sana’s silliness. "Fate? I literally chose to sit next to you knowing there was a good chance she'd partner people up by table."

Sana raised an eyebrow and a smirk began to grow on her lips. "So you wanted to be my partner? You're so sweet, Dahyun."

"Ugh," grumbled Dahyun as she pressed her hands against her face. "I knew you were going to say something like that."

"Like what?" 

"Something...you know, flirty. Something that you knew would make me blush," said Dahyun.

"I see that it worked." Sana grinned at her achievement. Her face turned slightly serious the second later. "You know, I can tone it down if you want me to. It's funny teasing you but I wouldn't want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything," she said.

"No, no, it's okay," Dahyun said. "Just maybe tone it down when we're in class? Otherwise I'm actually fine with it."

Sana almost looked a little… relieved? Dahyun quickly noted that. "Alright, I can do that," Sana said, smiling. “I won’t be flirty in chem but...well, let’s just say outside of class I won’t have mercy.” She winked.

“You couldn’t even keep that promise for a second. You literally just flirted with me,” Dahyun pointed out.

Sana looked surprised. “I did?” She backtracked her words, trying to recall which part was flirty. “Oh you’re right, whoops.” She grinned. “I guess it just comes naturally.”

“I can see that,” remarked Dahyun.

“I promise to try my best,” said Sana. 

* * *

Being lab partners with Sana was pretty fun, although definitely difficult at times. Sana mainly kept her promise but Dahyun quickly discovered something else about her that she should have been more worried about. Sana was clumsy. Of course, before they started the first experiment, Sana had warned her of that, but Dahyun didn’t know how clumsy she could be until she was in action. 

To keep it short, let’s just say that there were several knocked beakers and liquid dripping down the lab bench before Dahyun decided to step in. It freaked her out every time Sana was remotely even close to any glassware, afraid that she would accidently knock them over and get hurt from harmful substances or glass shards. In the end, Sana stayed two feet away from all potentially dangerous materials, resorting to reading the lab manual and relaying instructions to Dahyun, who would complete each task with much steadier hands. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t help that much today,” Sana apologized as they began to clean up their work station. Her gaze flickered at Dahyun’s face worriedly for any signs of annoyance. 

Instead to her relief, Dahyun smiled back. “No worries!” she replied cheerfully. "But you did a lot today, Sana. You giving me the instructions was really helpful.” Sana relaxed a bit. “And I’m fine with doing any parts involving glass or substances if you're not comfortable. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt, Sana.” 

“Oh…” It was Sana’s turn today to blush. “Thank you, Dahyunnie.”

“No problem, unnie,” Dahyun grinned back, happy at her success. “Anyways, I can finish copying the data and you can help put back some of the other stuff and we should be all set to leave.”

Sana nodded. “Sounds good.” She carefully picked up the plastic bottles containing the substances they had used in today’s lab and walked towards the cabinet.

Dahyun watched her leave before deciding it was the right time to make her move. She took out the letter from her backpack, the one she had written for Mark earlier today. She had to admit that she was quite proud of her writing skills, seeing how well the letter came together. She wasn’t really able to retain Mark’s original words but she compensated for it by creating her own. 

Mark had asked her to discreetly put the note in Sana’s bag and Dahyun set out to succeed. Making sure Sana was still organizing the cabinet, she stealthily slipped Mark's letter into Sana’s chem textbook lying on the table, all while keeping an eye on Sana to make sure she didn't turn around.

Mission accomplished. Dahyun expected she would feel relieved and happy once the letter was where it was supposed to be, but those feelings didn't hit her. Instead, she felt a bit of dread as she imagined Sana reading the letter.

"Everything okay, partner?" Sana asked as she walked back towards the lab bench.

Dahyun swallowed away her thoughts. "Yup. Everything's all good."

_Oh, if only that was the case._


	3. Jelly Jelly

"You. Are. Such. A. Hypocrite," Jeongyeon breathed out as Nayeon continued to kiss her neck and collarbone.

"Am I?" Nayeon murmured aimlessly, her attention still fixated on Jeongyeon's skin. 

"You keep bringing up that stupid no dating rule every time the topic of dating even comes up." Jeongyeon pulled away as Nayeon attempted to pull down the collar of Jeongyeon's t-shirt. "And look what we're doing now."

"You're no fun," Nayeon whined, trying to tug Jeongyeon back towards her. Jeongyeon resisted and Nayeon huffed with annoyance, sitting back in her heels. "I only brought that rule up yesterday so that Sana wouldn't immediately pounce on one of the maknaes. Didn't you see the way she was looking at Dahyun?"

"Yes, but was it really necessary for you to remind everyone? I'm pretty sure most of them forgot about it until you made such a big deal out of it."

"Don't you get it? It'll be an even bigger deal if they find out that we got back together. I can't deal with all their questions and opinions again. This way is better. In secret," Nayeon insisted. "No one is nosy about us and we can spend as much time as we want together without anyone suspecting."

Jeongyeon took Nayeon's hand in hers. "Nabongs, we've been officially back together for 3 months. I'm not planning on walking away from this. So isn't it about time we tell them?"

Nayeon hesitated, her fingers more firmly grasping Jeongyeon's. "I just need a little more time," she said.

Jeongyeon sighed, pressing her lips together. "Okay."

  
  
**One week later**

Dahyun swears she’s not a stalker. It just so happens that she sees Sana fairly often around campus out of pure luck. It happens so often that Dahyun begins to think either Sana is stalking her – which seems unlikely since half the time Sana is unaware of Dahyun’s presence – or it has to be fate. 

Then again, maybe it’s because they both have consistent, predictable schedules that just happen to overlap at the same locations. Since last semester, Dahyun had established a routine of studying in the library from 5pm to 7pm. She particularly liked this time because the library was a little quieter and emptier than the morning. She even had a favorite spot in the corner of the 2nd floor that was always empty and seemed like it was just for her.

Only, now someone else occupied that area. For the last couple days, Dahyun had seen Sana sitting at that corner. And for the last couple days, Dahyun had avoided her and sat in a different corner.

It wasn’t that she was avoiding Sana because she disliked her in any way. Honestly, it was quite the opposite. Every time she even glanced at Sana, her heart would do that weird thing in her chest. Not that she had a crush or anything.

Sana was also pretty distracting, as Dahyun quickly learned from sitting next to her in lecture and being her lab partner. She reasoned that if she did sit next to her, she wouldn’t be able to get any work done. And so, Dahyun stuck with sitting at the other corner, occasionally sneaking glances at Sana on her way out or on her way to the restroom.

Today was just going to be the exact same routine as the past week. Enter the library at 5pm, sneakily glance for Sana, and sit at her new seat. Only the latter two objectives didn’t happen as planned.

Dahyun frowned in confusion as she walked up to the second floor of the library and found Sana’s seat empty. Her stuff was on the table but the owner was nowhere to be found.

Two arms suddenly wrapped around her waist. “Dahyunnie!”

Sana let go of her as Dahyun spun around to face her. "Hey Sana unnie," Dahyun greeted happily.

“Were you looking for me?” Sana teased.

Dahyun felt herself redden but she nodded sheepishly. “Yeah.”

“Cutie,” Sana giggled. “You should sit here with me,” she suggested as she took Dahyun’s hand. “We can keep each other company.”

Dahyun's heart warmed at her suggestion and she couldn’t resist the offer. "Okay," she agreed, trying hard to not seem too eager as Sana beamed at her. They walked over to the corner together and Dahyun slid into the chair next to Sana’s.

“It’s about time we sit together,” Sana commented. “I’ve seen you around the library all of last week and I wanted to say hi but you seemed too busy.”

Dahyun let out a small laugh. “I would’ve said hi too but I didn’t want to distract you from your work.”

“Good call,” Sana giggled. She leaned closer, an amused smile tugging on her lips. “You, Kim Dahyun, are my big distraction.”

Dahyun jokingly pouted. “Why’d you invite me over then?”

“Maybe I wanted to be distracted,” Sana responded as she quirked up an eyebrow. She leaned back in her chair as she watched Dahyun’s flustered reaction.

“You are such a flirt,” Dahyun groaned.

“You should know by now,” Sana grinned. “It’s hard for me to not flirt with really cute girls.”

Dahyun rolled her eyes but couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Oh shush.”

“Have you started the chem homework yet?” Sana asked, changing the subject for Dahyun’s sake.

She shook her head. “Not yet. I checked with the front desk a couple minutes ago but all the textbooks are rented out. I guess I’ll wait until one’s free,” said Dahyun.

"Or we can share mine," Sana offered. "I just started the homework."

“Oh, okay,” Dahyun agreed and Sana slid the textbook in between them and scooted her chair closer.

* * *

So maybe Dahyun was a little wrong about Sana being too distracting. It was surprising how sharp Sana’s focus was when she wanted to get work done, and it pushed Dahyun to do the same. Although from time to time she’d find herself briefly glancing at Sana.

Dahyun found it kinda cute how Sana looked when she was concentrating. The tip of her tongue stuck out between her teeth as she worked on a particularly difficult problem. “That doesn’t seem right,” Sana murmured. She erased her work and flipped a couple pages back to the beginning of the chapter.

"Maybe if we use this equation instead?" Dahyun pointed out. She began to scribble down the equation and started plugging in numbers. Sana leaned closer curiously to watch her work and ended up resting her chin against Dahyun's shoulder out of comfort.

Dahyun frowned once she got to her answer. “That doesn’t look right, either,” she said.

"Maybe they have an answer key in the back?" Sana mused. She picked up the textbook and started flipping towards the end when a folded piece of paper fluttered out of the book and landed on the table. Sana's eyebrows creased with curiosity, picking up the paper and examining it.

She didn't notice the blood draining from Dahyun's face as she recognized the letter she had planted during their last week’s lab. Dahyun cleared her throat and told Sana, "I'm going to go print something real quick." Sana nodded her head absentmindedly, being more occupied with the unfamiliar paper. 

As Dahyun scurried off, she unfolded the paper and began to read. _Dear Sana,_ the letter started off as. Her eyes slightly widened as it reached towards the middle of the page. _Just wanted to tell you that spending time with you makes my day so much brighter. Sana, I’m sure you must’ve guessed it by now, but I wanted to tell you that I really like you. You’re amazing._

Sana's gaze momentarily flickered from the page to Dahyun's empty seat, having forgotten that the younger girl had excused herself to go print something. _Maybe Dahyun wrote it?_ Sana thought hopefully. _That could be why she left so quickly_ , she reasoned.

Sana felt warm inside at the possibility. Dahyun had been someone she had almost instantly been attracted too, which was rare for Sana. She loved getting to know people and making new friends but there was something a little different to Dahyun. They clicked really well ever since they partnered up and gave Nayeon and her team a run for their money at Monopoly. While they had just met a little more than a week ago, Dahyun was such an approachable person and she felt so comfortable around her.

She flipped over the page to continue reading and her eyes automatically skipped to the name signed at the end. Mark Tuan. The hope of the author being Dahyun faded and a small pang of disappointment hit her. It wasn't that she didn't like Mark – she found him to be a nice and funny guy when they hung out with friends last semester. And she did have some suspicions that Mark liked her based on the way he would get flustered when he saw her and since he suddenly slid into her dms out of the blue. They had been messaging each other here and there about random things, but the conversation never really seemed to go anywhere. Until now.

The letter confirmed what Sana had suspected of Mark's feelings. He did like her. But the fact didn't particularly bring Sana much joy. Normally, she loved romantic gestures such as a cute letter and on top of that Mark was pretty attractive for a guy. 

But the possibility of Dahyun writing her this letter was a far more attractive fantasy. _Stop it_ , Sana chastised herself. Mark must've put so much effort in writing such a heartwarming letter and here she was thinking about a girl instead. A girl that – according to the rest of the group – was a 100% off limits.

The whole rule of not being able to date within the group was pretty laughable to Sana. But at the same time, she had to admit it would prevent drama and she knew from personal experience of how bad dating during freshman year could be. It did make sense that at least the maknaes were off limits so that they could just enjoy their first year of college without any drama. Ugh, if only Dahyun was a year older and wasn't so cute and completely her style. Maybe then Sana wouldn't be spending so much time thinking about her.

Meanwhile, Dahyun wandered through the library’s shelves. The truth was, Dahyun didn’t have anything to print. It was the only excuse she could think of that would get her out of the situation before Sana started reading the letter.

Dahyun couldn’t help but to take a peek at Sana through a couple rows of bookshelves to gauge her reaction. She noted the way Sana’s eyes lit up with interest and how she turned a little pink when reading the beginning of the letter. Dahyun had walked away after that, feeling weird about spying on Sana and wanting to let her finish reading the letter in peace.

Dahyun didn't know what to feel. It was great that Sana seemed to enjoy the letter rather than finding it cringey and strange. And it was nice that Mark finally found a girl that could reciprocate his feelings with her help. Her two friends just might be on their way to finding love.

But at the same time, something darker and ugly stirred in Dahyun's chest. She was the one who turned Mark's dumpster fire of a love letter into a cohesive one and had added so many details to make it all the more beautiful and heartwarming. It was basically her words that Sana was reading and blushing to. It was her that slipped the note into her textbook for Sana to find. But yet here they were, with Dahyun moping between the rows of bookshelves and Sana reading Mark’s ghostwritten love letter.

 _Am I jealous?_ Dahyun suddenly thought as she walked around. _No…I can’t be._ She swallowed any bitter thoughts away and turned back to return to Sana.

Sana folded the letter to its original shape once she saw Dahyun approaching from the corner of her eye and slid it discreetly into her bag.

"Didn't you need to print something?" she asked, as Dahyun approached with empty hands.

"They were out of paper," Dahyun quickly explained, hoping Sana wouldn’t ask more questions. “Now where were we on that problem?”

* * *

Dahyun and Sana finished the rest of the homework pretty quickly and Dahyun packed up her things. Sana decided to stay behind to work on some other things but Chaeyoung had texted Dahyun asking if she was down for movie night with her and Tzuyu. Dahyun said goodbye to Sana and made her way to her dorm.

Once Dahyun left, Sana pulled out her phone and typed out a text message to Mark before she forgot to do so.

**Minatozaki Sana 7:26pm: thanks for the letter it was cute**

* * *

Dahyun checked her phone for any text messages from Chaeyoung as she walked back and instead found her screen blown up with notifications from Mark. Dahyun scrolled all the way up to the beginning of the text message, noticing the all caps and multiple messages he had frantically sent.

**Marko polo 7:28pm: DAHYUN I NEED YOUR HELP**

**Marko polo 7:28pm: SANA TEXTED ME ABOUT THE LETTER BUT MY BASKETBALL GAME’S STARTING IN 2 MIN**

**Marko polo 7:28pm: DAHYUN**

**Marko polo 7:28pm: DUDE**

**Marko polo 7:28pm: HELP**

**Marko polo 7:28pm: PLEASE**

**Marko polo 7:28pm: I DONT KNOW WHAT TO SAY AND I DONT WANNA LEAVE HER ON READ**

**Marko polo 7:28pm: BUT I WANT TO ASK HER OUT TODAY**

**Marko polo 7:29pm: Username is Mark_Tuan2 and password is got7gotmilk for kakao**

**Marko polo 7:29pm: PLEASE DUBU**

_What does he expect me to do?_ Dahyun wondered, debating whether she should even try. _Does he want me to ask her out for him? This is getting a little ridiculous._ She scrolled down to read the rest of the messages.

**Marko polo 7:29pm: ILL PAY YOU**

**Marko polo 7:29pm: PLEASEE**

**Mark Tuan has sent you $20.00**

Dahyun rolled her eyes and typed out her response although Mark's game probably started already.

**Dubu dubu 7:32pm: …okay**

She typed in Mark’s login information to kakao, opening up the chat with Sana. Dahyun didn’t like the weird feeling she got about signing into another person’s account.

**Minatozaki Sana 7:26pm: thanks for the letter it was cute**

She thought for a bit before she typed a response that sounded like what Mark would say.

**Mark Tuan 7:34pm: glad you liked it haha**

Perfect. Dahyun didn’t mean to brag but this was pretty easy.

**Minatozaki Sana 7:36pm: although how'd you manage to put it in my textbook?**

_Shit._ Dahyun racked her brain quickly before responding.

**Mark Tuan 7:37pm: A magician never reveals his secrets 😉**

Dahyun grimaced as she typed out the following text.

**Mark Tuan 7:37pm: but i will if you let me take you out for coffee**

**Minatozaki Sana 7:38pm: Once again, very intriguing Mark**

**Minatozaki Sana 7:39pm: it's a deal**

Dahyun sighed. There was a part of her that wished Sana had turned down the offer and she immediately felt disgusted with herself for thinking that. She should be happy for Mark, shouldn’t she?

She arrived at the dorm, where Chaeyoung and Tzuyu already had everything set up with snacks on the side. They started to watch the movie but Dahyun posing as Mark continued to chat with Sana throughout most of the movie, both parties almost losing track of time.

Sana was pretty surprised of how well the conversation flowed. When she had texted Mark to thank him for the note, she hadn't expected much. She predicted that he would send over an awkward response or something along those lines, rather than the open conversation and amusing banter they were currently exchanging now.

It seemed as if Mark had suddenly upped his conversation skills and it was like talking to a different person. It was refreshing. 

If Sana was being honest, she had half a mind to turn Mark despite the letter but now, she was a bit more intrigued. From the way the conversation was going, it was evident that they clicked really well and everything felt so natural. With all the positive feelings, she felt inclined to agree to just one date and see if they'd click just as well in person.

* * *

**Dubu dubu 9:12pm: Next Friday, 4pm, coffee shop across from the campus bookstore, she really likes green tea lattes and strawberry shortcakes so order that for her**

**Dubu dubu 9:12pm: There I did it**

**Dubu dubu 9:12pm: I'm keeping the $20 by the way**

**Marko Polo 9:15pm: oh my god**

**Marko Polo 9:15pm: You're a fucking miracle worker**

**Marko Polo 9:15pm: Can i pay you to keep texting her lol**

Dahyun had to admit, she really enjoyed texting Sana. Sure, she was pretending to be Mark and Sana didn't seem to notice but she loved responding to some of the random thoughts Sana brought up. She was getting a glimpse of another side of Sana, one that was both witty and aloof – a rare sight for Dahyun to see in person.

It could be a win-win situation, she reasoned. Mark would be able go on dates with his crush without revealing his horrible texting skills and Dahyun would be able to chat with Sana about things they normally didn’t talk about. A tiny voice in her head whispered how this was crossing the line. But Dahyun couldn’t help but crave more conversations with Sana.

**Dubu dubu 9:22pm: …maybe i could be persuaded…**


	4. Stuck in my head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the nice comments! They really make my day :)

Mark wasn’t asking for too much. The task was pretty simple: if Sana was in the mood for a random late night chat, Dahyun was in charge of entertaining her until they both fell asleep. And if the conversation seemed to go silent for a couple days, Dahyun would send over a text to check up on Sana. Dahyun had always found texting to be a super easy mode of communication and texting Sana was an even easier task since the conversation always flowed smoothly. It was so easy that sometimes Dahyun wondered why Mark wasn’t able to achieve this on his own. 

Dahyun sent her a quick good morning text before setting her phone down and continuing to get ready.

Sana was walking towards Dahyun's dorm room when her phone buzzed. She checked it and her mood brightened at the cute good morning text Mark had just sent her. He always seemed to know just what to say. She shot a response back before putting her phone away and knocking on the door.

"Just a second!" Dahyun yelled out, her voice muffled by the wooden barrier. She rushed to finish getting ready, tossing a handful of her school supplies and her umbrella into her backpack.

The door swung open moments later. Sana chuckled at how adorable Dahyun's messy hair looked and her hand automatically reached out to brush it away from her face. "Good morning Dahyunnie," she greeted.

"Hey Sana unnie," Dahyun greeted back, trying not to get distracted by how gently Sana was fixing her hair. 

"There," she said once she was finished. "Dahyunnie, you should wake up earlier if you know you won't have enough time to get ready."

"This is already early enough," Dahyun whined. "I usually wake up 10 minutes before class."

"Well you can't keep skipping breakfast and eating chocopies," reminded Sana. 

"Okay, okay mother," Dahyun grumbled jokingly. "Let's go get breakfast then." Sana smiled and took her hand, leading her towards the elevator.

Although it was way too early in the morning, Dahyun loved the new routine of getting breakfast together with Sana. It was always a struggle waking up but knowing that Sana would be waiting for her made her a lot more motivated to roll out of bed. And she had to admit that eating an actual breakfast rather than a chocopie was pretty fulfilling. 

Chaeyoung let out a mock gasp to Mina as she watched her best friend half-walking and half-led by Sana towards their table. "Look who's up early for a third time in a row," she teased. Chaeyoung turned to Sana. "I don't know how you do it. This girl wouldn't wake up even if Tzuyu smacked her and threw her on the floor." 

"Maybe our Dahyun's turning over a new leaf," Sana teased. 

"Or maybe I'm just terrified that Tzuyu will actually do that to me if I keep sleeping in," Dahyun grumbled as she took a seat. 

"You should keep it up," Mina suggested. "It's a good habit."

Dahyun rolled her eyes. "Sure, because I just love waking up early and crashing your breakfast dates with Chaeyoung every morning," she said sarcastically.

"We don't mind," Chaeyoung piped up.

"And you have me now," Sana pointed out. "It can be a double date instead of third wheeling." Dahyun's mouth partly gaped open, trying to formulate a response as her face quickly gave away her flustered state.

Sana chuckled and pinched Dahyun's cheek. "I'm just teasing, Dahyunnie."

Dahyun attempted to regain her composure, pressing her hands against her warm cheeks. "I'm gonna get you back for that," she said grumbling. 

"You can try but I don't blush as easily," gloated Sana as she giggled. 

Dahyun mock glared at her and pushed her shoulder. "Just wait," she said, trying to sound intimidating but Sana laughed at the weakly delivered threat. 

* * *

Dahyun and Sana proceeded to walk to class together after breakfast with Mina and Chaeyoung when Dahyun noticed a familiar head of messy brown hair. Sana also noticed him too and Dahyun's jaw tightened at the way her eyes suddenly brightened around him. 

"Hey Mark!" Sana called out cheerfully. 

“Hey Sana,” he greeted. “Hey Dahyun.”

"Thanks for the cute text by the way," Sana said, beaming.

Mark seemed caught off guard by that, not knowing that Dahyun had sent one for him this morning. "Oh uh…" his eyes darted to Dahyun who discreetly gestured at him to respond. "Yeah no problem I just felt like sending one," he stammered. Dahyun internally slapped her forehead. 

“So how are you?” Mark asked, trying to recover from his previous awkwardness as his ears turned pink.

Sana smiled at him reassuringly. “I’m doing well! I had a-”

"Unnie, we should get going," Dahyun impulsively butted in and subtly tugged Sana’s hand. “We’re going to be late for class.”

Sana glanced at the time on her phone. “Oh! You’re right,” she said. She turned back to Mark and smiled brightly. "See you tomorrow Mark," Sana said sweetly, giving him a wave as she let Dahyun lead her away. Mark grinned shyly and waved back. 

“Bye Mark!” Dahyun called over her shoulder but didn't turn to see if he heard. She slightly sped up her pace, pulling Sana with her.

"You know Mark?" Sana suddenly questioned Dahyun as they continued walking to their destination.

"Yeah, he's a friend from high school," she explained. 

"Ah." Sana nodded in understanding. She hesitated for a moment, unsure of bringing up the topic to Dahyun but ended up going ahead with it. “He asked me out on a date," she told Dahyun. Sana’s eyes immediately darted to her. She studied Dahyun's face for her reaction but there wasn't much. 

"Oh." Dahyun feigned a surprised smile, not letting on that she knew all about it. "Well, he's a really nice guy," she offered out.

"That's good to know," Sana replied, finding herself strangely disappointed at Dahyun's positive reaction. But what reaction was she hoping to get? An annoyed one? A jealous one? One that showed her that Dahyun was interested in her and liked her more than a friend?

Sana brushed away the absurdity of the thought. It was clear that Dahyun thought of her as just a friend and she should be happy that Dahyun seemed supportive. But she couldn’t help but feel a bit dismayed.

She was pretty confident in her abilities to read other people. The way Dahyun always blushed around her and how her eyes shone when she saw Sana made her wonder if the younger girl had feelings for her. But Dahyun’s reaction to Mark told a different story. Maybe Sana had been reading the signs wrong all this time. 

* * *

Sana tried her best to push away that strange feeling of disappointment but it kept creeping back every now and then during class. It crept back when Dahyun’s hand accidentally brushed against hers and again when Dahyun started scribbling a cute drawing on the corner of Sana’s notes and again at the way Dahyun smiled so adorably at her when Sana drew a stick figure next to her scribble.

Every action the younger girl did made Sana question if she liked her as more than a friend, only for her mind to remind her how happy and unbothered Dahyun looked when Sana told her about Mark. Why was she so fixated on figuring out whether Dahyun liked her or not? It wasn’t like Sana could date her if that was the case. 

_ We're just friends,  _ Sana repeated in her head firmly as she watched the girl working away on her homework, oblivious to Sana’s conflicting thoughts. They were at the library once again, fulfilling their late night routine of working on their chem homework together. Only Sana had finished her work first and had spent the remaining time in her thoughts as Dahyun caught up to her.

She felt a light tap on her shoulder. “Sana unnie, did you get this for problem 11?” Dahyun asked as she showed her the answer on her paper.

“Nope,” Sana said but didn’t elaborate. She felt bored after doing nothing for almost half an hour and figured it would be fun to tease Dahyun again.

Dahyun knitted her eyebrows in confusion as she searched through her work again for any mistakes. When she couldn't find any, she glanced back up at Sana and found her smirking at her. "Are you messing with me?" Dahyun asked.

"Am I?" Sana replied back a little too innocently. 

"Lemme see what you got," Dahyun made a grab for Sana's homework.

"Uh uh uh," Sana tutted. She held the paper over her head and out of Dahyun's reach, enjoying how riled up the younger girl became. 

"Sana," Dahyun whined.

“All because you’re my lab partner doesn’t mean I’m going to show you my homework,” Sana joked. 

Dahyun let out a huff before an idea popped in her head. She quickly leaned back towards Sana. "Then maybe we can be more than just lab partners," Dahyun suggested. She quirked an eyebrow and slid her hand up Sana's forearm as she leaned closer. Sana froze at the action, her heart quickening and the grip on the paper loosening. Her face flushed red as Dahyun came inches from her face.

"We can be…" Dahyun's lips almost brushed the tip of Sana's ear and a shiver ran down her back in anticipation.  "Study buddies." 

Dahyun snatched the homework out of her hand and looked for the answer to problem 11, laughing at Sana.

"Oh my god I hate you," Sana said as she pushed Dahyun away. 

“I told you I’d get you back unnie,” she said triumphantly as she looked through Sana's homework. "You do get red easily!"

* * *

“I don’t like him,” Momo declared as she paced around the living room of her apartment.

“You’ve never even met Mark,” Mina reasoned from the sofa, trying to calm down her friend.

Momo scrunched up her nose. “Even his name gives me a bad vibe.”

“Momo unnie, you’re overreacting,” Chaeyoung said as she leaned against her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Dahyun’s close with him and she has pretty good judgement in friends. You don’t need to worry about him.”

Momo threw her hands up in frustration. "I have a bad feeling about him. I had the same feeling for Sana's last girlfriend. You guys have to trust me on this one."

Mina grimaced at the mention of Sana's last ex from freshman year. That one was pretty far up there on their collective list of worst exs. "But we haven't even given him a chance yet," Mina pointed out. “It’s not like he’s shown any red flags.”

"So we're just gonna wait until he starts showing them? By then it'll be too late," Momo argued.

"What are you going to do then?" asked Chaeyoung as Momo stopped pacing and turned to face them.

"I'm gonna spy on their date tomorrow," Momo declared. "And you two, are going to help me."

* * *

"Aw crap it's raining," Dahyun said as she watched the heavy downpour from the window. Sana and Dahyun had their things packed and ready to leave but the unwelcomed storm threw a wrench in their plans. Dahyun had brought an umbrella with her but the storm seemed too strong to walk in. 

She turned around, ready to ask Sana if she’d be willing to risk it when a bright flash of light suddenly burst through the window. Sana immediately flinched, her hands flying up to press against her ears before the thunder followed. A small squeak escaped her as she squeezed her eyes shut when the building seemed to shake with the loud sound. Sana always had an irrational fear of thunder and no matter how many times she tried to overcome it, the sound of thunder sent her into a state of paralyzing fear. She regrets not checking the weather beforehand.

Dahyun's eyes widened with concern the second Sana let out a small noise of fear and shrunk back. "Sana, are you okay?" Dahyun asked worriedly but Sana didn't seem to hear her as she huddled into a small ball on the floor.

Her hands were pressed against her ears, eyes squeezed shut and her face becoming very pale. Dahyun noticed the way Sana was trembling and breathing irregularly and when the second round of thunder roared outside, Sana shrunk back even more. 

Dahyun took her chance. They still had some time before the next round of thunder and lightning came and so she knelt down by Sana. Her arms wrapped around her, rubbing comforting circles on her back until Sana relaxed slightly in her embrace. "Sana," she said gently. "Let's go, okay? I'll take you somewhere safe."

Sana nodded shakily, still a little disoriented from fear. Dahyun helped her stand, pulling her up to her feet. Sana's hands were still against her ears but Dahyun wrapped a steady arm around her waist to guide her away from the doorway.

Dahyun wasn't a hundred percent sure that the place she was taking Sana would be the best place for this situation. But, it had been a comforting place for her to go to when she wanted to relax and she hoped that Sana would find it that way too. 

The library was connected to the music building, and so that's exactly where Dahyun steered her too. They walked past the series of practice rooms until Dahyun found the one she always uses. 

Everything was a bit of a blur to Sana. The second the thunder hit, all she could really focus on was covering her ears the best she could and blocking out the sound. She vaguely knew Dahyun was taking her somewhere, but didn't recognize where until Dahyun helped sit her down on the small sofa near the piano. 

Dahyun scooched the piano bench over to her and sat down across from her. "It's okay now," Dahyun told her comfortingly, rubbing her shoulder. "You can't really hear the thunder anymore." Slowly and hesitantly, Sana lowered her hands from her ears and Dahyun reached out to hold them.

Her hands were freezing and trembling and Dahyun tried her best to warm them up. The thunder was so faint that you'd have to concentrate on the sound to really notice it. Regardless, Dahyun could still see the tension that Sana held in her shoulders as she hung her head down.

“I’m sorry for overreacting,” Sana mumbled, avoiding eye contact. “I’m just really scared of thunder.” It’s always embarrassing for Sana to admit this to people, especially her friends. Everyone that she told this too had laughed at the absurdity of the fear, taking it as a joke. Even Momo, who she had practically been glued to the hip with since they were little, had initially laughed at her before she realized Sana was genuinely scared. 

Dahyun felt a pang in her chest at how ashamed Sana looked when she admitted her phobia. She gripped her hands more firmly. “It wasn’t overreacting,” Dahyun responded softly. “You were scared, but you’re so brave for being able to admit it.” Her hand automatically reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair behind Sana’s ear, her fingers briefly running against the soft skin of her cheek. “Not a lot of people could do that.”

Sana finally lifted her head, her eyes locking onto Dahyun's. They were so bright and filled with such warmth and concern that it made Sana’s heart thrum against her ribcage. She tugged the hand she’s still holding, pulling Dahyun onto the sofa and into her arms.

Dahyun’s eyes widened at the unexpected gesture but wrapped her arms around Sana as well. Sana buried her face into the crook of her neck as she tightened the hug. “Thank you,” she murmured. They stayed like this for a couple minutes as Sana's fear went away. 

Sana didn't want to move from this position even long after she had calmed down.  Maybe it was the way Dahyun’s arms were wrapped so securely around her waist. Or the way her thumbs unconsciously rubbed circles on Sana’s back to calm her down. Or the way Sana seemed to melt into her embrace, their heartbeats falling into the same rhythm. Sana wasn’t sure how to comprehend her feelings; all she knew was that she didn’t want this moment to end.

She eventually pulled back before it got awkward, opting to hold Dahyun’s hand again. “Why the music room?” she suddenly asked as she finally took a good look around the small room.

Dahyun shrugged. “It’s where I come to relax by playing piano,” she explained. “I figured it might be a good room for you.”

"Can you play something for me?" Sana asked shyly.

Dahyun looked surprised for a second but quickly regained composure. "Of course. Do you have a song request?"

Sana shook her head. "Whatever you like to play." Dahyun smiled at that as she scooted the piano bench back to its original spot. She sat down, her fingers hovering lightly over the keyboard. She closed her eyes and allowed her fingers to dance on the keys as a pleasant melody filled the room.

Sana was instantly hooked. She’d seen other people play the piano before, enough times to expect that signature forehead crease everyone seems to get while concentrating on the music. But Dahyun wasn’t like that. Her face was filled with serenity and it seemed as if she was lost in the music. There were no signs of concentration or hesitation -- just certainty and enjoyment. Her fingers had a mind of its own, traversing across the keys effortlessly.

Sana had to admit she wasn’t the biggest fan of classical music but the way Dahyun played made her want to listen to more and more. There was something so addictive about it and she felt the urge to be closer to the music and to the performer. Sana got up from the sofa and sat next to Dahyun on the piano bench. Their knees pressed closely together as Sana wrapped her arms around Dahyun's waist and rested her chin lightly on her shoulder. 

Dahyun continued to play without any mistakes, a light chuckle leaving her lips at the cute gesture. 

Sana was in awe of every beautiful chord Dahyun played and the swelling crescendos and soft decrescendos she executed effortlessly. When the song ended, it left her wanting more.

“What’s the name of the song?” Sana asked her, wanting to look it up and play it later that night to help her fall asleep.

“I haven’t come up with a name yet,” Dahyun admitted.

Her eyes widened. “You composed this?” Sana asked in amazement.

Dahyun smiled shyly and nodded. 

"It's beautiful," the words tumbled out of Sana's mouth and Dahyun smiled wider.

"I'll send you a recording of it if you'd like," Dahyun offered and Sana's eyes lit up with interest.

"I'd love that," she told her. 

"In that case, I'll send you it tomorrow. But for now," she said, seeing that the thunder had stopped a while ago. “Let’s go home.”

* * *

Dahyun held a comforting aura that made Sana feel instantly safe as they shared an umbrella through the rain. She insisted on walking Sana all the way up to her door, despite the fact the two lived on the same floor.

Before Dahyun left to go to her room, Sana spoke up. "Dahyun?" Sana said softly.

"What is it unnie?"

"Thanks for not laughing at me. When I told you I was scared of thunder," she said. "People usually don't take me seriously when I say that."

"I'm just glad I could help," Dahyun replied honestly, her hand cupping Sana's face and her thumb rubbing the soft skin across her cheek. Dahyun's gaze drifted downwards from her eyes to her lips and instantly regretted it. She froze, her thumb no longer rubbing her cheek as she realized how intimate the position they were in was.

Sana's heart rate jumped as Dahyun's eyes briefly flickered down to her lips. She found her own gaze lowering down to Dahyun's lips, noticing for the first time how soft they looked. The sight drawed Sana in and she found herself being pulled towards her. The inches between their lips began to decrease as both girls unconsciously leaned closer. 

5 inches.

4 inches.

3 inches.

_ Ding! _ They jumped apart as the elevator doors opened and Jihyo and Tzuyu walked out. 

“I should go,” Dahyun said abruptly, avoiding eye contact.

Sana nodded, pressing her lips together. “Yeah it’s getting late," she agreed, glancing to check if their friends had noticed the two of them. 

Dahyun told her good night and rushed off before it could get too awkward. Sana sighed as she watched the younger girl head towards her room before she opened her door. She pinched the bridge of her nose as her last moments with Dahyun ran through her head.

_ Were we about to kiss?  _ Sana wondered as she recalled Dahyun looking at her lips and moving closer. Or maybe it was just Sana who was doing all the moving? Sana's head was a little too fuzzy to figure out the exact details. She was only sure about one thing -- Kim Dahyun was going to drive her crazy.


	5. Heart Shaker

_ Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck _

Dahyun dropped onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow, squeezing her eyes shut. She wanted to yell and scream into the pillow. She was so close to kissing Sana and fucking everything up. If that elevator door hadn’t opened at the right time, she didn’t know what she would’ve done. 

A groan slipped out of her lips. Dahyun literally had one job: help Mark with his crush. Nothing about that job description entailed cuddling with his crush in the music room or almost kissing her in front of her door after walking her home late at night. She sucked at her job. She really  _ really  _ sucked at her job.

She pressed her face harder into the pillow, wishing the soft object would engulf her and make her forget about the last couple hours. This whole situation would’ve been so much easier if Sana wasn’t her friend and if she wasn’t so likeable. 

“What’s wrong?” Tzuyu asked as she watched her roommate seemingly attempting to suffocate herself with a pillow.

Dahyun lifted her head slightly, one eye peeking back at Tzuyu who was across the room. She was sitting cross legged on her bed and she realized that Tzuyu had seen everything. “Nothing,” she murmured. “I’m just frustrated.”

“With classes?” Tzuyu questioned. “Or is it Sana? I saw you guys talking in the hallway and it looked serious.”

Dahyun bit her lip. In all the confusion of the almost kiss, she had forgotten that Tzuyu and Jihyo had potentially witnessed it. She turned her head so that one cheek was pressed against the pillow as she faced her friend. “No, it’s just classes,” she lied. 

Tzuyu furrowed her eyebrows at Dahyun’s unconvincing response but she knew better than to prod for an answer. “If you’re sure…” she said hesitantly. 

Dahyun shook her head tiredly. “Yeah, I’m good,” she said. Tzuyu nodded and decided to leave Dahyun alone, returning her attention back to her phone. Dahyun’s attention also went to her phone as it buzzed with a message.

**Momo unnie 10:29pm** : Dahyun are you free tmr afternoon

**Dahyun dubu 10:30pm:** Yeah I don’t have any plans

**Dahyun dubu 10:30pm** : why

**Momo unnie 10:30pm** : dope

**Momo unnie 10:30pm** : Meet me at the campus parking lot 

**Momo unnie 10:30pm** : like 3:50ish

**Dahyun dubu 10:31pm** : ?

**Dahyun dubu 10:31pm** : why the parking lot?

Momo didn’t elaborate further and Dahyun frowned slightly at the lack of a response. She fiddled around with her phone for a couple minutes when it buzzed again.

**Marko polo 10:40pm** : 👉👈

**Marko polo 10:40pm** : Any chance you’re free tmr

**Marko polo 10:40pm** : wanna help me with the date with Sana

**Dubu dubu 10:41pm** : sorry bro i already made plans with momo in the afternoon :/

**Marko polo 10:41pm** : aw man

**Marko polo 10:41pm:** thanks anyways dude

**Dubu dubu 10:42pm** : good luck tmr tho!

Thank god Momo already asked Dahyun to hang. She didn't know what she would've done if Mark had roped her into helping him win over Sana. It was good that hanging out with Momo would keep her mind off of the two while they went on their date tomorrow.

A soft sigh escaped her lips as she set her phone down. She rolled over onto her pillow and faced the ceiling, hoping sleep would wipe away her busy mind. 

* * *

**Friday**

_ Why in the world are we meeting here,  _ Dahyun wondered as she entered the campus parking lot from the side entrance. She scanned the rows of cars for Momo, to no success.

Her phone buzzed.

**Momo unnie 3:56pm** : You’re late

**Momo unnie 3:56pm** : Turn left at that red car and start walking straight

Dahyun hesitantly walked towards that area, still unable to see any signs of Momo. She glanced back down at her phone, ready to call her for better directions.

A hand suddenly grabbed Dahyun's arm but before Dahyun could scream, another hand clamped around her mouth. The person spun her around and she was faced with a familiar girl.

"Shh," Momo scolded. She glanced over Dahyun's shoulder and then ducked down, taking Dahyun with her. 

"Momo, what the hell?" Dahyun asked but Momo didn't answer. After looking around the area again, she opened the door of the gray car they were hiding behind. 

"Get in," Momo instructed.

"Are you kidnapping me?" Dahyun questioned as they climbed into the backseat of the car. 

Momo rolled her eyes and faced Dahyun. "Dubu, I love you and all but no, you're not on my list of people I'd want to kidnap," she said. She turned her attention back to the window, peering out towards the bustling crowd of students walking inside the bookstore and campus coffee shop.

"Then what the hell are we doing?" Dahyun asked.

"We're being spies," Momo answered with her back still turned to her. Dahyun followed her gaze and her eyes landed on two familiar people: a guy with messy brown hair and the blonde girl that had been running through Dahyun's head all day. She watched as Mark greeted Sana by the coffee shop entrance and opened the door for her. Dahyun frowned at how Sana suddenly seemed really shy at the gesture. She quickly shifted her gaze away from them. 

"I don't trust him," Momo grumbled as she watched them disappear into the cafe.

"Momo, this is going overboard. Who else knows you're doing this?"

Momo blinked at her. "What do you mean? We're all in on this," she said. "Jihyo changed her barista shift so that she can work now." She pointed at two girls sitting outside of the coffee shop, seemingly on their own date. "We got Mina and Chaeyoung over there." She swiveled slightly and pointed at two suspicious figures sitting together by the window and sipping frappuccinos. Their hoodies were on, hiding most of their hair and both donned dark sunglasses. “And Nayeon and Jeongyeon are stationed there.” 

Dahyun shot her a what the fuck look. She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to comprehend the entire situation. “At least you didn’t bring Tzuyu into this,” she mumbled, trying to see the bright side of things. 

The driver's side opened and Tzuyu slid inside the car holding a freshly made mocha latte. "He ordered strawberry shortcake and a chai latte for her," she reported back as she handed Momo the drink. 

"That idiot," Momo muttered as she took a sip. "She likes green tea not chai."

"Tzuyu you're in on this too?" Dahyun asked incredulously, still struggling to process the entire situation.

Tzuyu shrugged at her. "Momo unnie said there might be drama and I wanted to watch."

"This...is going overboard," Dahyun repeated as she looked at all her friends stationed at different spots to spy on Sana. Her eyes then moved back to Mark and Sana, who had found a seat by the window and were enjoying their food. Mark seemed to be inching his hand towards Sana's and Dahyun ripped her gaze back to the car floor. "I don't want to be a part of this." She made a move to open the door but Momo stopped her.

“Dahyun, you might not be close enough to Sana to care yet but we’re all in the same group. That means we have each others’ back," Momo said heatedly. Dahyun winced at her words. It wasn't that Dahyun didn't care about Sana, the problem was that she cared too much and it was beginning to bother her to watch Mark and Sana get along. She bit the inside of her cheek. “And we’re not going to let some douche come and break Sana’s heart again,” Momo added seriously. 

“Douche? Mark’s not like that,” Dahyun weakly protested. 

“I know he’s your friend and all, but we want to make sure he’s good enough for Sana,” Momo said firmly. Dahyun let go of the door handle and sank back into her seat as Momo turned her attention back to the date. 

Buzz.

_ You have been added to a new group chat _ :  **Operation protect satang** ****

Dahyun scrolled to see the incoming messages.

**Chaeng 🐯** **4:12pm:** It doesn't look like its going too well 

**Nabong 🐰 4:12pm** : lmao right we can feel the awkwardness all the way from here

**Minari 🐧4:13pm** : he's stuttering a lot…

**The og no jam bro✌ 4:13pm** : I think its cause he saw jihyo

**The og no jam bro✌ 4:13pm** : she glared at him when he came to pick up his order LOL

**God Jihyo 😇 4:14pm** : I did NOT glare at him

**God Jihyo 😇 4:14pm** : but he ordered chai for her when everyone knows she only likes green tea

**Momo💍 4:14pm** : THATS EXACTLY WHAT I SAID

**Momo💍 4:14pm:** AN AMATEUR

**Chewy 🐶 4:14pm** : you're still glaring at him unnie

**Chewy 🐶4:14pm** : we can see you from the car

**God Jihyo 😇4:15pm** : no im not!!

**The og no jam bro ✌ 4:15pm** : gEt bACk tO wOrk jiHyO

**Nabong 🐰4:15pm** : yeAh sTOp loOkiNG aT yOUr pHOnE jiHyO

**God Jihyo 😇 4:15pm** : shut up

**Chaeng 🐯 4:16pm:** SANA JUST FROWNED OOOF

**Chaeng 🐯 4:16pm:** it REALLY isnt going well

Momo glanced back up from the phone. "I knew I should have brought binoculars." Momo squinted, pressing her forehead and nose into the window for a better view. 

"The parking space over there just opened up," Tzuyu pointed out. "It's a much closer view from there."

"Step on it!" Momo nearly shouted and Tzuyu turned on the engine. She swiftly drove into the new parking space, which was only a couple yards away from the window where Sana was sitting by.

Dahyun could now make out the small frown resting on Sana's face as Mark continued to stutter. It wasn't a frown out of anger or annoyance, but confusion. The more Mark tried to talk, the more he seemed to be burying himself into a hole he couldn't get out of. 

This. Useless. Boy. Dahyun loved him with all her heart but it was times like these when she wanted to hit him.  _ Guess who's gotta be damage control.  _

She glanced at Tzuyu and Momo, whose focus was divided between the group chat and trying to read Sana's lips as she spoke. She pulled out her phone and shot a quick text to Mark. 

**Dubu dubu 4:18pm** : LOOK DOWN AT YOUR PHONE AND PRETEND TO TEXT 

**Dubu dubu 4:18pm** : AND THEN TELL SANA TO CHECK HER PHONE WHEN I SAY SO

Dahyun glanced back up to see if Mark saw the message. He didn't. She sighed and called him, hanging up the second Mark discreetly glanced at his phone.

Dahyun switched accounts and went into Mark's, typing out a message to Sana.

Sana's phone lit up with a text from Mark. She raised an eyebrow at him. "You texted me?" She questioned, a little confused.

Mark quickly bobbed his head. Sana shot him a weird look before she read the message.

**Mark Tuan 4:18pm** : I'm sorry I'm stuttering

**Mark Tuan 4:18pm:** I get nervous around pretty girls like you 

Sana hesitantly sent back a response.

**Minatozaki Sana 4:19pm:** the star of the basketball team gets nervous around pretty girls?

**Mark Tuan 4:19pm:** of course

**Mark Tuan 4:19pm:** especially when they're stunningly gorgeous like you

**Mark Tuan 4:19pm:** as you've witnessed in the past couple minutes, you make me absolutely speechless 

Sana let out a soft laugh at that. Now there was the Mark she knew, the one that always had jokes and good banter. She glanced up from her phone and gave him a shy, amused smile. He smiled back blushing.

**Minatozaki Sana 4:20pm** : you know… some people say its quite rude to text on a first date

**Mark Tuan 4:20pm** : only when they're texting someone else

**Mark Tuan 4:20pm** : my attention is 95% on you Sana

**Mark Tuan 4:21pm** : and 5% on this dope strawberry cake

Sana chuckled. 

**Minatozaki Sana 4:22pm** : it IS a pretty dope cake

**Mark Tuan 4:23pm** : My only regret is that I didn’t get you green tea

**Mark Tuan 4:23pm** : I blanked out when I was ordering

**Minatozaki Sana 4:23pm** : haha I figured

**Minatozaki Sana 4:23pm** : I don’t mind though, the chai’s pretty good too

**Mark Tuan 4:24pm:** that’s a relief

**Mark Tuan 4:24pm:** next time I’ll remember I promise

Sana raised an amused eyebrow.

**Minatozaki Sana 4:25pm** : does that mean we’re on for a second date?

**Mark Tuan 4:25pm** : completely up to you

**Mark Tuan 4:25pm** : but I hope you’ll say yes

**Minatozaki Sana 4:26pm** : yes… on one condition

Sana set down her phone and reached out to gently touch his forearm. “Don’t be so nervous to talk to me,” Sana said reassuringly. “I want to hear what you have to say.”

Mark nodded flustered at her touch. “I’ll try,” he agreed. “Thanks Sana.”

Dahyun looked up from her phone when Sana didn’t reply back and peered out the window with Momo. Something dark knotted at her insides as she saw Sana’s hand resting on Mark’s arm and the two talking and laughing.

_ Mission success, _ she thought bitterly as she slumped back into the car seat.

* * *

"So how was the date?" Momo asked casually as Sana plopped down on the sofa. Mina smacked Momo’s arm at how unsubtle it was.

Sana rolled her eyes at her best friends. "I'm pretty sure you already have a good idea of how it went. I saw Jihyo working and Nayeon and Jeongyeon sitting by the window. They're really bad at disguising," Sana commented.

"You only saw those three?" A shit-eating grin grew on her lips.

Sana narrowed her eyes at that. "How many more people did you have spying on me?"

"I'm not telling," Momo replied back in a singy-songy voice. 

Sana reached over and tickled Momo's sides. "Tell me," she demanded. Momo squealed and tried to slap away her hands.

"N-never!" Momo laughed out.

Sana tickled harder. "Tell me!" She tried to sound serious but broke character from seeing Momo's red face. 

Seeing that she wasn't going to get an answer from her, she turned to Mina. "Mina, were you spying on me too? And tell the truth or I'll tickle you too," she threatened.

"On the contrary, Chaeyoung and I were on a nice date and we just happened to see you two," said Mina. 

"Mina shut up! Now she knows Chaeyoung was there too!" Momo whined.

Mina covered her mouth in surprise. "Oops."

Sana started counting with her fingers. "So there were 6 of you there?" 

Momo's snicker gave it away and Sana's eyes widened. "Wait was it everyone? All eight of you?" She asked, shocked. "Where the hell were they all hiding?"

"That's top secret. You'll never know," Momo sang out. 

"Wait…" Sana's brain finally caught up to the situation. "Dahyun was there too?" She questioned, suddenly nervous for the answer. 

Momo nodded, not noticing her sudden change in behavior. "Yup," she confirmed. "Although I dragged her into helping me and she wasn't too happy about that."

Sana bit the inside of her cheek. “Did she say anything?”

“Dahyun? Not really. She didn’t seem that interested and she was on her phone most of the time,” said Momo. 

“Oh.” Sana was beginning to notice two sides of Dahyun: the one that seemed to have a soft spot for Sana and (potentially?) tried to kiss her and the side that always seemed to push her towards Mark. And what Momo just told her fit perfectly into the latter. 

It confused the hell out of her. In one instance, Sana swears that Dahyun likes her more than a friend and in the next instance, she’s telling her how great of a guy Mark is. 

It was pretty frustrating to think about. Sana was always someone who liked being direct and honest and it drove her crazy that she didn’t have the guts to be forward and simply ask Dahyun if she was interested in Sana. If it were any other girl, she would’ve confronted them by now. 

But Dahyun wasn’t just another girl. She was Dahyun, so kind and gentle and bright and so damn confusing. Sana could read most people like a book but with Dahyun, the book was missing so many pages. At times, being with her was so enjoyable and immersive and at other times, she was left in confusion when the storyline skipped around. 

“So what did you guys do after?” Mina asked, disturbing her thoughts.

“You should ask Momo that. She seems to know everything,” Sana joked weakly.

“Actually, we stopped spying on you after you guys left the coffee shop. None of us could follow you without it getting too obvious,” said Momo.

“I don’t know if I believe you,” Sana answered, squinting suspiciously.

“Okay, the truth is, I got hungry and you guys were walking too far so I gave up and got food,” Momo admitted. “So how did the rest of the date go?”

“We just went to the quad and sat down on a bench and ended up talking for a while,” said Sana. It was clear on Sana’s face that she wanted to bring something up and Momo jumped at Sana’s hesitation.

“What else happened?” Momo asked cautiously. “You don’t look like you had the best time.”

Sana shook her head. “No, it’s not that. The date itself was really nice. But sometimes, it felt really off. Like I didn’t really know him,” she tried to explain.

Mina tilted her head. “This  _ was _ your first date,” Mina pointed out. “You can’t expect to know him after just one date.”

“Yes, but we talk so much over text and I thought I had a good idea about his personality at the very least. But it’s so different talking in person. Over text and letters, he’s funny and sweet but in person...he talked a lot about basketball,” said Sana. “Like way too much. And I don’t really mind because it’s still interesting to listen to but it was weird how he never talked about it once whenever we texted.”

“Maybe he was nervous and just said the first thing on his mind,” said Mina. 

“True…” Sana agreed hesitantly. “But how can someone be so different in person? It’s like I’m talking to one person over text and someone completely different in person. I just don’t understand.” Whenever they texted, Sana could feel sparks from how well they connected. But this date fell towards an average date. Zero sparks.

“I knew he was sus!” Momo butted in and Sana looked at her exasperatedly.

“Give it some time,” Mina suggested. “Once he learns to be less nervous around you, I’m sure those two different people will merge into one.”

“I hope so,” murmured Sana. 

* * *

Once it got late, Sana left Momo’s apartment and headed back to her own dorm room. She walked up the stairs and almost passed the common room. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed a familiar girl curled up on the couch with her friends, watching the loud movie.

"Dahyunnie?" Sana called out without a second thought. For a moment, the memory of almost-kiss flashed in her mind and she suddenly feared there would be newly developed awkwardness between the two. But her  worries were consoled when she was met with Dahyun's bright smile. There were no hints on her face about their last night's encounter and Sana felt relieved. Things were still normal, as they should be.

"Sana unnie," Dahyun greeted happily. She scooted slightly to her left to make some room. "Wanna join us?" Dahyun offered, patting the space next to her. Sana's heart did a strange flip at the way Dahyun looked up at her.

_ Well. This was a new feeling.  _

Sana smiled and nodded. She sat down on the couch and leaned into Dahyun as the other girl comfortably wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Her heart did another weird flip.

She rested her head against Dahyun's shoulder, trying to grasp the feeling of her heart thrumming loudly against her chest.

It was a new feeling.

It was an exciting feeling.

It was an addictive feeling.

It was a  _ dangerous _ feeling.

But damn… it was a feeling she could see herself getting used to.


	6. More & More

The credits rolled down the dark screen. Dahyun's friends had left a minute ago when the movie ended, but Dahyun didn't move an inch.

She couldn't move even if she wanted to. Sana's face was nuzzled into her neck, her cheek resting on the crook of Dahyun's neck. Her arms were wrapped around her waist, pulling the younger girl as close to her as possible in her sleep. Dahyun could feel the small puffs of air brush against the skin of her neck every time Sana exhaled. It was the only thing she could feel, really; her arm was starting to go numb from the weight of Sana's head.

Even so, there was no way in hell Dahyun would move and awaken Sana. The normally energetic and playful girl looked so serene as she slept and it would be a capital crime to disturb her in any way. Dahyun couldn't help but to study the older girl's face, admiring how beautiful and peaceful she looked. She's never looked this long at Sana before; she was always too shy to do this in front of her.

She started to pick up the little things about Sana. Her long eyelashes, that one tiny freckle on her cheek, and... her soft pink lips. The same lips she almost kissed last night. 

_ What if I kissed her _ ? Dahyun wondered as her eyes wandered downwards to her lips. Would everything be different? Would Sana still have gone on that date with Mark? Would they still be in the same position as this moment, with Sana's arms wrapped around her?

Or would it have ended badly? Would it have ended in awkward moments and avoidance, shame and regret? Would she have lost Sana? Would she have lost Mark as a friend for making a move on his crush? 

In her world of hypothetical realities, there was no way she could have both Sana as a girlfriend and Mark as a friend. It was either have both of them as friends, or ruin her friendships with both of them. 

And yet, a small desperate voice in the corner of her mind whispered:  _ I want her to be mine.  _ It was the voice of jealousy, of greed, of lust, deadly sins she was taught to stay away from as a child. Dahyun knew this voice must be the ugliest part of her, snaking through her head and pushing her into dark thoughts and actions. 

How was it possible to know this girl for only a couple weeks and yet feel so close to her? It scared Dahyun as she realized how much she wanted Sana to be hers. She wanted to hold Sana’s hand whenever she wanted, to kiss her, to spend nights together talking about anything and everything. She wished Sana was hers, not Mark’s.

This realization first struck her earlier today, as she sat in Momo’s car and pretended to be Mark texting Sana. She was tired of all of it. She was tired of pretending to be Mark. She was tired of watching Sana falling for someone else.

It pained her that Sana had to be off limits. She was the forbidden fruit, and no matter how much the jealous voice snaking around in her mind wanted Sana, she would never be able to have her without completely wrecking her current world.

Dahyun gazed back down at Sana’s peaceful face, her heart starting to ache.  _ Why did it have to be Sana,  _ she thinks miserably. Why did she have to fall for her? Why did Mark have to like her?

Dahyun pulled out her phone, careful not to wake up Sana. She typed out a simple message.

**Mark Tuan 1:01am:** Today was great

**Mark Tuan 1:01am** : Sweet dreams, Sana

Dahyun stared at the sent message. It was decided. This would be the last message she would send to Sana posing as Mark. It was getting too hard to do this anymore.

It was a little bittersweet. As much as it pained her to see Sana getting closer to Mark, she had to admit she enjoyed the late-night texts she had with Sana. Even though Sana wasn’t aware that she was actually texting Dahyun, it was still fun listening to Sana talk about the most random things. From her love for green tea to her favorite candle scents to if water was wet, Dahyun had enjoyed all the things they talked about.

But the decision was final. These late-night texts to Sana had to end here. She switched back to her account, typing another message to Mark.

**Dubu dubu 1:05am:** we need to talk

**Dubu dubu 1:05am:** i dont think i can do this anymore

She put away her phone without waiting for a response, glancing back down at Sana’s sleeping face again. Dahyun felt her heart tugging and suddenly felt the urge to kiss her. Before hesitation could settle in, Dahyun leaned forward, pressing her lips gently to Sana's forehead. 

For now, this had to be enough. She had to be satisfied with just being friends with Sana, nothing more. She pulled away, leaning back into the couch. Dahyun closed her eyes, allowing sleep to take over with Sana still on her shoulder.

* * *

Sana doesn't remember falling asleep. The last thing she remembers is realizing the crook of Dahyun's neck smells amazing, like a hint of something floral, sweet vanilla, and… baby powder? She couldn't quite pinpoint the exact scent but it was a hundred times better than any candle or perfume she owned. 

Of course, the smell combined both of her favorite scents: flowers and candy, but there was just an extra layer to it that she associated with warmth and comfort and safety. Maybe it was the baby powder. 

She was barely awake, her head still on Dahyun's shoulder and her eyes refusing to open. She felt Dahyun shuffle a little, and then soft lips suddenly pressed against her forehead.

Sana's heart stopped.  _ Dahyun just kissed me? _ A warm sensation traveled from where her lips touched her skin, trailing down her face and all the way down to her toes, making Sana’s entire body feel warm and tingly. She does everything in her power to pretend as if she’s sleeping, even though the kiss had shaken her wide awake from her half-asleep state.

She felt a little dizzy and she didn't know why. She had been kissed before, and it didn’t make sense to her why a kiss on the forehead would make her mind short-circuit.

She felt Dahyun lean back against the couch and she prayed that Dahyun wouldn’t be able to feel how hard her heart was thumping in her chest. This was so goddamn confusing. How was it possible that she felt more with this  _ platonic  _ forehead kiss from Dahyun than any kiss on the lips? Or that just being around Dahyun made her heart shake, unlike the entire date she had with Mark today.

The date with Mark, although it had a weird start, was the very definition of a good date. He was a really nice guy who she had some good conversations with. But throughout the date, something just felt missing to her. There was no spark. 

She swore she felt them with him before. They felt so strong when they’d text late at night and he’d say something sweet. Sparks would seem to dance on the screen as her fingers tapped out response after response. But when they met in person, she couldn’t feel it. Instead, she had felt a little empty, a little confused, and a little guilty. Was something wrong with her? Mark was doing everything right, and yet her heart stayed silent.

And now her heart was going off at the wrong time. It beated wildly as she snuggled closer to Dahyun, relishing how well her body fits against Dahyun’s. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to control her heartbeat.

_ Dahyun’s just a friend. Just a friend. Just a friend. _

_ Just a _

_ friend _

Sana let the words repeat in her head until she fell asleep.

* * *

**The next day**

Dahyun stepped into the basketball court, her nose crinkling at the smell of sweat. She slipped her bag off her shoulder and took a seat on the wooden bleachers, watching Mark toss another ball from the 3-point line. It reflected off the rim, bouncing its way to the bleachers. Dahyun scooped up the wandering basketball.

"Looks like your aim's getting better," she called out. 

Mark scoffed and rolled his eyes at her. "You caught me at a bad time," he jokingly whined. He grabbed another ball from the rack and tried again, easily sinking the ball through the hoop.

He flashed her a triumphant smile before jogging over to her. Mark plopped down in the seat next to her.

"Ew, you're sweaty that's disgusting," Dahyun said, scooting away from him. 

Mark rubbed the dampness from his forehead with his hand and reached out to touch Dahyun with a shit-eating grin. She shrieked, jumping away from his dirty hand. "Ew Mark!"

Mark burst out laughing, wiping the sweaty hand on his jersey. "Hah you should've seen your face!" he snickered.

"You're so gross," Dahyun whined but she moved back to her original spot.

“Don’t you think all guys are gross though?” Mark teased and Dahyun shoved him. They both laughed and fell into a comfortable silence. 

Mark’s face became a little more serious as he broke the silence. "So you don't want to do this anymore, right?"

Dahyun nodded. "I'm sorry, Mark. But it's just getting too weird for me and I feel like I'm invading Sana's privacy," she admitted. "Especially with the late night texts. She says a lot of things that she doesn't tell me even though we're friends. A lot of it's really personal, and I don't know how she'd react if she knew I knew everything." It bothered Dahyun a little, knowing that Sana was willing to open up more to Mark than her despite them becoming close friends. 

"I get that," Mark said, a little glumly. He looked down at his fidgeting hands. "I'm just scared I'll mess everything up, though. It's only been going well cause you were always there to help."

"It's for the better," Dahyun said weakly. "Besides, I can't keep being the one to text her if she becomes your girlfriend, right?" 

Mark let out a rueful chuckle. "Yeah, that'd be weird," he admitted.

Dahyun patted his shoulder gently. "It'll be okay. She likes you for who you are. There's no need to pretend to be good at texting."

"Yeah, but I just wish I was good at it," Mark sighed. "I don't want her to get bored of me. I don’t know how you do it.”

Dahyun suddenly stood up, basketball still in hand. "Remember when you taught me how to play in 10th grade? I sucked at throwing and you'd help me practice passing and dribbling."

Mark nodded, a soft smile appearing on his face. "Yeah, I've never seen someone who sucked that badly at passing."

Dahyun rolled her eyes at the joke but continued on. "You told me that you always had to think about the other person when you passed the ball. They need to catch the ball, so you need to think about how much force to use and how fast to throw it." 

She tossed the ball at him and Mark caught it with ease. "So think of conversations like passing a ball," she suggested. "You have to think about the other person. You have to consider if they want to talk about the same thing you want to talk about, and consider if they'll be able to respond well to whatever you say. You can't throw out something completely random and expect them to be prepared to respond. You both have to be on the same page and the same train of thought," Dahyun explained. “Now throw it back to me.”

Mark tossed the ball back and she caught it. "See? Just like that. So think about what Sana likes to talk about and let the conversation flow from there. The more you practice that, the easier it'll be to talk to her,” she said.

"How about jokes?" Mark asked. "She seems to really like the jokes you tell her."

Dahyun paused, thinking for a second. "Sana likes the jokes, but I don't think that's what she really cares about," she said. "She's just looking for a person to connect with on the same level as her. And if you can do that for her, being funny isn't a big deal."

She gave him a soft smile. "Try it out. It might be hard at first, but Sana is an easy person to talk to.”

Mark nodded his head, “I’ll give it a try,” he promised and Dahyun felt her heart starting to crack. 

* * *

**One week later**

"This better not be another spying mission," said Dahyun as she slid into the booth of the diner. 

Momo frowned. "Of course not. I'd never be caught dead sitting out in the open. I'm no amateur." She slid over the cup of hot chocolate she ordered for Dahyun. "But if you keep up that bad attitude, I'm not inviting you to the next mission," she huffed.

Dahyun raised her hands in defeat. "So touchy today. You going through your second puberty again?"

Momo hmphed and grabbed back the hot chocolate she had given Dahyun moments before. "No chocolate for you," she grumbled. As Dahyun started to whine, Momo simply stuck out her tongue and took a sip of the warm drink. 

“Momo unnie,” Dahyun whined, tugging on her sleeve and trying her best to look cute. 

“You can look cute all you want but I’m not falling for it this time,” said Momo. She took another sip of the delicious drink, but her face no longer reflected it. Momo's mood immediately soured as she looked over Dahyun's shoulder and she set down the cup with a slam.

Dahyun turned to follow her gaze, her eyes landing on a pretty girl with medium length brown hair. The girl saw Momo glaring at her and scurried off without ordering a drink.

"Who was that?" Dahyun asked once the girl was gone.

Momo grimaced. "Sana's evil, evil ex."  Momo seemed unnaturally cold and pissed off, her mood spoiled by a glimpse of the girl.

"Was it that...bad?" Dahyun asked hesitantly as she studied Momo's face.

Momo let out a deep sigh. "You know how Sana tells everyone she studied abroad in Japan cause she was homesick?" Dahyun nodded slowly. "It's a lie. Sana signed up for that program last minute to get away from Eunha," Momo said, anger slowly simmering in her voice. 

"She hurt Sana so many times and then came crawling back each time for forgiveness cause she knows Sana always believes the best in people. She's an emotionally manipulative bitch,” Momo spat out. "And Sana's made it perfectly clear that she's over it but Eunha keeps bothering her every once in a while.”

Momo crushed the napkin that she was fiddling with in her hand. "So if you ever see Eunha lurking around Sana, take her away as fast as you can. Got it?” Dahyun nodded quickly, a little scared at the angry side of Momo. She hasn’t seen Momo get this heated before. 

“Good,” Momo said, relaxing a little. “We don't need another problem on top of Mark.”

Dahyun was taken aback. "Mark's a problem?" Dahyun asked dumbfoundedly. 

"If he's not making Sana happy, then I see him as a problem,” said Momo. “And I’m still not getting good vibes from that guy. I didn’t get good vibes when Sana first started dating Eunha either.”

“Does that mean you’ll keep spying on them?”

Momo made a face. “Dahyun do you even know me? I’d spy on them even if things were going super well.”

Dahyun wrinkled her nose. “Do you do this for all of her dates?”

“Nope, only the ones I have a bad feeling about,” she responded. She leaned towards Dahyun. “By the way, is Mark going to the party tonight?”

Dahyun shook her head. “No, he has a game today.”

Momo sat back and smiled. “Dope. That means I don’t have to watch Sana and can just enjoy the party.”

Dahyun sighed. “You’re crazy.”

Momo shrugged it off. “But you love me for it anyways.” She smirked and took another sip of the drink.

* * *

Colorful lights flashed through the large windows of the frat house and the pumping music was loud enough to rumble the porch as the nine of them walked up to the entrance.

"We're meeting back here at 1am, got it guys? Jeongyeon and I will be driving tonight but please try not to get too trashed," said Jihyo.

“Alright mother,” Nayeon called out.

Jihyo narrowed her eyes at her. “Especially you Nabong.”

Nayeon shrugged it off. “I make no promises,” she said, smirking. “Let’s go Yoo Jeongyeon.” She grabbed her hand and tugged Jeongyeon into the crowd of dancing students.

Jeongyeon looked over her shoulder and mouthed, “I’ll watch her.” 

Jihyo sighed and turned back to the others. “The rest of you… just don't do anything illegal please." 

Chaeyoung and Tzuyu flashed a thumbs up and Jihyo left to find her friends. Dahyun’s eyes flitted to Sana, working up the courage to ask her if she wanted to grab a drink together. She shifted towards her and tapped her shoulder.

“Hey Sana? Do you-”

Before she could finish asking the question, a couple of girls rushed up to them.“Sana! Momo!” one of them yelled excitedly. Both girls were pulled away with their other friends. Sana shot a glance back at Dahyun, giving her an apologetic smile before she disappeared into the crowd. 

Dahyun’s shoulders slumped slightly. Well, there went her plan to hang out with Sana tonight. She turned back to Tzuyu, who was the only one left after Mina and Chaeyoung wandered off into the party.

“Wanna get drinks?” Dahyun offered.

* * *

Dahyun had forgotten that her and alcohol aren’t the best of friends. She only had a couple sips of the spiked punch and she could feel her cheeks beginning to warm up. She stared at the contents of her cup before deciding it was best to toss it away rather than continue to drink.

She excused herself from Tzuyu, wandering into the kitchen for a trash can. Dahyun tossed the cup into the half-filled bin but when she turned around, she stopped in her tracks.

It was that girl again, the one Momo was glaring at from the diner. Sana’s ex. Eunha was leaning against the counter, but her eyes were trained to something in the distance.

Dahyun followed her gaze and found that she was looking at Sana and the group of friends she had gone off to hang out with. Eunha’s dark eyes specifically seemed to be locked to the back of Sana’s head. An uneasy feeling stirred in Dahyun's stomach. She didn't like the way Eunha was looking at Sana. 

Euhna straightened her posture and began to make her way over to Sana, who was oblivious to the whole situation. The feeling in Dahyun’s stomach twisted and the directions Momo told her earlier echoed in her head. She knew she had to do something. Dahyun quickened her pace and moved to Sana’s side before Eunha could.

She wrapped her arm firmly around her waist, pulling Sana almost possessively towards her. "Let's go somewhere else," Dahyun whispered in her ear.

Sana’s eyes widened with surprise and confusion at the sudden gesture. Her breath hitched in her throat as her mind tried to comprehend what Dahyun just said.  _ Was Dahyun suggesting what she thinks she's suggesting? Going somewhere else…just the two of them?  _ Her mouth felt dry despite all the drinks she had.

Sana flusteredly nodded and excused herself from her friends, allowing Dahyun to pull her into the nearest empty room. Dahyun took one glance over her shoulder to check for Eunha, but the girl had disappeared again. 

“What...what’s all this about?” Sana asked slowly once Dahyun closed the door. Her brain felt as if it was lagging a second behind. Maybe she’s a little tipsy.

Dahyun bit her lip as she tried to come up with a good excuse, cursing herself for not thinking this through. Sana’s eyes flitted to her lips, the sight of Dahyun biting her lip making her heart doing that weird flip again. 

“Well…” Dahyun said hesitantly, wishing her brain would work. She could feel her cheeks getting red, and it wasn't from the alcohol.

Sana could feel the nervousness Dahyun radiated as she stammered. Her usually milky skin was flushed rosy pink and Sana swore Dahyun had never looked cuter than this moment. 

Through her buzzed mind, the weak voice repeated the same chant that had been running through her head the past week.

_ Dahyun’s just a friend. _

_ Just a friend. _

_ Just a friend. _

_ Just a- _

_ Ah fuck it. _

Sana stepped forward, cupping Dahyun's cheeks and pressing her lips against the younger girl's.

Dahyun froze.

And then she melted into the kiss. She kissed her back, savoring how soft Sana's lips felt.  _ Is this really happening?  _ Dahyun thought, dazed as a thousand fireworks went off in her chest. The kiss was so tender and sweet and yet it was intense and electric.

Sana felt the sparks. As she moved her lips against Dahyun’s, she was addicted to how the kiss tingled in the most pleasant way and how it made the feeling in her chest go ablaze. She pulled Dahyun closer to her as Dahyun’s tongue slowly traced Sana’s bottom lip.

Dahyun was infatuated with how her lips tasted. Sana tasted like sweet strawberry candy and chocolate and… tequila?

Dahyun’s senses snapped back to her as her tongue brushed Sana’s and she could taste the alcohol that Sana drank.  _ That's not a good sign. _

She placed her hands on Sana’s upper arms, trying to end the kiss as gently as possible by pulling away slowly. But before she could fully do so, the door swung open. 

Jihyo's and Momo’s eyes widened as the opened door revealed a tipsy Sana kissing Dahyun, who seemed to be trying to pull away.

"What the-"

"Sana? What the hell are you doing?" 


	7. Fake and True

Dahyun was living in a dream. One where anything was possible, where the girl she liked so much was kissing her as if she felt the same. Sana kissed her. She was kissing Sana.

And then Dahyun woke up.

“Sana? What the hell are you doing?"

Dahyun jumped away from her at the sudden voice, panic flooding her veins. Momo and Jihyo were looking at them with surprised eyes and open mouths, trying to process the situation. 

Dahyun’s mouth felt dry. There was no way to explain to her friends why she and Sana were alone in this room, kissing. Her jaw felt stiff, unable to form any sentences.

Jihyo was the first to unfreeze. "Momo, take Dahyun and go for a walk," she instructed. "I'll stay here and look after Sana." 

Momo nodded quickly. "Come on dubu," she said, stepping forward to take Dahyun’s hand and leading her out the room. 

"Jihyooooo," said Sana in a slightly whiny voice. Her arms wrapped around Jihyo's shoulders, resting most of her weight on her friend. 

Jihyo examined Sana’s flushed red cheeks. She seemed to be getting drunker at the second as the effects of alcohol started to hit her. "Sana, let's sit down," she said, gesturing to the bed. "I'll get you some water."

Momo led Dahyun away from the loud music and the crowd and into the chilly night air. They walked outside and once they were a few feet away from the house, she stopped walking.

Dahyun fidgeted with her hands, nails pressing against her palms to form painful white crescents. Her gaze was glued down at the floor, studying the dirty sidewalk cracks rather than the intimidating blank look on Momo's face. 

"Dahyun? Are you okay?" Momo asked, breaking the silence.

"Huh?" That certainly wasn't the question Dahyun was expecting to get. She finally met Momo's gaze. "Yeah… I'm okay," she stuttered out.

"Sana didn't scar you for life, did she?" Momo asked, trying to lighten up her tone.

Dahyun laughed nervously, shaking her head no.

"Good," Momo said, patting Dahyun’s shoulders. "Don't look into it too much," Momo told her. "She's done it before."

Dahyun bit the inside of her cheek. "Kissing people while drunk?" she asked hesitantly, hoping the answer was no.

Momo nodded and Dahyun’s heart started to sink. "It's kinda her thing. Sana gets super affectionate when she drinks and she'll usually kiss the person closest to her. Although usually that person is unfortunately me and I don't think I've seen her drunk kiss someone on the lips before."

"Oh," Dahyun said, her hands starting to fidget around again. 

"I'm just saying, don't take it too seriously. She didn't mean it," Momo said reassuringly.

Dahyun’s chest felt tight at that. Her heart had exploded with joy when Sana kissed her, but now it felt as if her heart was being crushed with this realization.  _ She didn't mean it. _

Of course she didn't mean it. She was drunk and not thinking straight. Dahyun should've figured out that she was drunk the second she pulled her into the room, not moments later while they were kissing.

Dahyun felt stupid over how ridiculously happy she had gotten over the kiss. It was meaningless to Sana, and yet Dahyun had deluded herself into thinking it meant the world. 

They were just friends. And that's how it would remain between them. Because Sana had Mark, after all.

Fuck, Mark. She had completely forgotten all about him. What kind of shitty person kisses their friend's crush while she's drunk? She had kissed Sana with such eagerness, Mark's crush not even coming across her mind once.

Fuck. She fucked up. She should've stopped Sana the second she tried to kiss her. Or she should've never brought Sana into an empty room in the first place.

"But why were you two in a room together? Alone?" Momo asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Dahyun swallowed hard, trying to hide the hurt she was feeling. "I saw Eunha," she told her truthfully.

Momo frowned. “She’s here?”

Dahyun nodded. “I saw her trying to go up to Sana so I pulled her into the room before she could.”

“And Sana didn’t see her?”

Dahyun shook her head. Momo relaxed, her fists unclenching. “Thanks Dahyun. You did the right thing." She patted her shoulders again. "Let's go back inside. Party's probably gonna end soon."

* * *

"Sana, I can't believe it. You kissed Dahyun?" Jihyo asked Sana, whose eyes were closed and head lolling against her shoulder.

A content smile appeared on her face. "I kissed her," Sana said happily, her words starting to sound a bit slurred. She giggled softly to herself.

"Goddammit Sana," Jihyo murmured as she tried to keep Sana's head upright with one hand while the other tried to make her drink the cup of water. "Sana, you need to drink more water."

Once Jihyo was satisfied with the amount of water Sana drank, she set the cup down and let Sana lean on her shoulder again. At this point, Sana was drifting away from her giggly stage and had become more quiet as fatigue hit her.

Jihyo brushed back Sana's hair, absent-mindedly playing with it as she tried to process what she saw when she first walked through the door. Sana had kissed Dahyun and Dahyun looked like she was trying to push her away without hurting her feelings. 

Jihyo had gotten used to Sana’s super affectionate side that appeared after a couple shots of alcohol. And she was fine with Sana going a little overboard with it but this… this was crossing a line. She can't just kiss whoever she wants when she's drunk, especially if that someone is just a non-reciprocating friend.  _ What am I gonna do with her _ , Jihyo thought to herself helplessly. She took a deep breath before she spoke.

"Sana, you can't keep doing this," Jihyo said softly.

"Doing what?" Sana murmured out, her eyes fluttering open.

"Kissing people when you're drunk. I get that you're affectionate and it's okay to kiss us on the cheeks but anything more than that is too far," Jihyo told her gently. "You're playing with Dahyun’s feelings if you're kissing her without meaning it."

Sana looked upset at that. "But… I like her," she confessed. 

"As a friend. And you don't know how Dahyun feels about you."

"But she… she kissed me back," Sana said, confused. 

"Sana…" Jihyo said apologetically. "You're drunk. From what I saw, she wasn't kissing you back. She was trying to stop you."

Sana frowned. "No…" she disagreed, searching through her fuzzy brain for the right words to explain her feelings. Dahyun had kissed her back, didn't she? She swore she did.

But what Jihyo was telling her was the total opposite. Sana didn't understand.

She couldn't understand. 

Her mind was too damn slow and buzzing. She could barely focus on this current moment, much less able to pull up the memory of the kiss in her state. 

Sana closed her eyes. Her head sank back into the comfort of her friend's shoulder as darkness swept over her.

* * *

Dahyun and Momo walked back into the room. Dahyun glanced nervously at Sana, whose face was buried in Jihyo’s shoulder.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Momo asked, bending down close to her face and poking her cheek. 

Jihyo nodded at her. "I got her to drink some water but I can't guarantee that she'll wake up without a bad headache." Momo poked her cheek again.

"Momo stop that," Jihyo chastised. "She's passed out right now."

"Damn she's that drunk?" Momo commented as she straightened up. "Watch her not remember that this happened."

"Will she remember what happened?" Dahyun spoke up suddenly.

Jihyo shrugged and pressed her lips together. "Probably not. She is pretty out of it right now." She paused and glanced up at Dahyun. "Do you not want her to remember?"

Dahyun shifted her weight between her feet. "No, it's not that. I just...think it might be awkward to bring up if she doesn't remember."

Jihyo nodded. "Ahh, I see. Then for now, this stays between us. If Sana remembers or if she asks us about it, then we'll let her know. But if she doesn't, then there's no need in making her feel awkward and embarrassed over such a trivial thing. Does that sound good to everyone?" 

Dahyun nodded.

"Uhh," Momo uttered out.

"What?"

"I already told Mina what happened," Momo said sheepishly, holding up her phone. 

Jihyo facepalmed herself. "Okay well, tell Mina to keep quiet about it." 

"On it."

Jihyo glanced at the time. "It's almost 1 anyways. We can gather everyone back here and go home."

Momo opened the door, revealing a new commotion amongst the dwindling crowd. "We have another problem," Momo called out as she watched the scene unfold. She opened the door wider so that Jihyo and Dahyun could see.

"Woohoo, giddy up Yoo Jeongyeon!" Nayeon yelled out as Jeongyeon carried her on her back. She was struggling to carry the clearly drunk girl who kept flailing her arms and shouting.

"Ugh fuck you Nabong," Jihyo grumbled under her breath as she surveyed the newest situation.

* * *

Sana's head hurt. She could hear the blood pounding through her head in a steady rhythm, each thump jabbing pain into her skull. She should've known drinking on a Sunday night was a bad idea.

She made a blind grab for her phone on her nightstand, bringing the device closer to her face and peering at the screen through one half opened eye. 

She squinted for the time. 7:19 am. 

Crap. She was already a couple minutes behind her normal schedule. Sana forced herself to roll out of bed. She dropped to the floor feet first, her upper body still pressed against the mattress and refusing to leave the soft comfortable haven. 

Sana grudgingly pushed herself up, noticing the two pills of aspirin alongside a bottle of water and a note on her nightstand.

The note read:  _ you clown _ and Sana could tell by the handwriting that it was written by Momo. She dropped the note back and picked up the aspirin and water, taking the pills. 

Sana cringed at the bitter aftertaste the aspirin left behind.  _ Clown indeed _ , she thought.  _ Why in the world did I drink when I have classes the next day? What the hell happened last night? _

She tried to ignore the headache as best she could as she got ready for the day. Sana threw on a pink baggy hoodie and some dark jeans before grabbing her bag and jogging out the door.

She glanced at the time again. 7:31am.

Sana sighed in relief as she walked to Dahyun’s door. Right on time, as usual. 

She knocked, expecting to hear Dahyun to yell out that she's almost ready, the way she always does every morning when Sana picks her up for breakfast.

But there was no answer. Instead, the door swung open and a much taller girl stood in the doorway. 

"Unnie? Do you need something?" Tzuyu asked, still half asleep and bleary-eyed.

Sana tiptoed and peeked over her shoulder, seeing the empty bed. "Is Dahyun not here?" she asked.

Tzuyu shook her head. "I think I heard her leave early this morning. But I'm not really sure, I was still pretty sleepy."

Sana knitted her eyebrows slightly. "Okay," she said. "Thanks anyway Tzuyu."

Tzuyu nodded, yawning. She shut the door. Sana stared at the closed door for a couple seconds, frowning. This was unlike Dahyun. She always followed her consistent schedule and at the very least she would alert Sana ahead of time if she couldn't make it. 

She turned and headed away from the door. The usual walk to the elevator felt lonely.

_ Maybe she's already downstairs eating breakfast with Mina and Chaeyoung _ , she tried to reason as she made her way to the dining hall.

She grabbed a plate of food. Her eyes scanned the large room for any sign of the dark haired girl when she didn't see her at the usual table with Mina and Chaeyoung. No luck.

"Have you guys seen Dahyun today?" Sana asked as she walked up to her friends. Chaeyoung shook her head. "By the time I woke up, she was already gone," she told Sana. 

"Oh…"

"Maybe you should text her," Mina suggested. 

"Good idea." Sana put down her things and pulled out her phone, typing a quick message to Dahyun.

**Sana unnie 7:35am:** are you coming to breakfast?

**Dahyunnie 7:36am:** crap sorry i shouldve told you earlier

**Dahyunnie 7:36am:** i had something to print out this morning so i think i have to skip breakfast :(

**Dahyunnie 7:36am:** but see you in chem!

**Sana unnie 7:37am:** okay see you

Sana sighed softly, setting her phone down and taking a seat. 

"Is she not coming?" Mina asked.

Sana shook her head. "No, she said she had to go print something."

"Damn this early? That sucks," Chaeyoung commented as she took another bite of her bagel.

"Yeah," Sana agreed disappointedly, staring at her plate of breakfast. She leaned her head against her propped up arm and began poking at her eggs with her fork.

“Does your head hurt?” Mina asked. "You drank a lot yesterday."

Sana smiled weakly. “I’ll be fine. Thanks for checking, Mina.”

Mina and Chaeyoung resumed their previous conversation before Sana showed up but Mina couldn't help but shoot a concerned glance at her friend, who looked a bit lost without Dahyun. She wondered if Sana had any recollection of last night.

Momo had told Mina about the kiss, but either Sana remembered and didn't seem to mind, or she didn't remember at all. But by the way Sana seemed confused by Dahyun not being at breakfast, she figured it was probably the latter.

It sucked to not have Dahyun around. Sana always felt energetic and talkative at breakfast when she had Dahyun to talk to but today she felt a lot more quiet. Then again, maybe it was the hangover that was bringing down her mood.  Mina and Chaeyoung tried to include her in their conversation as much as possible but Sana couldn't help but to feel like a third wheel. She wished Dahyun was here to make her feel less lonely.

_ Don't be so dramatic _ , she told herself.  _ I'll literally see her in a couple minutes for chem. _

Sana finished the rest of her breakfast quickly and left for class.

She walked into the classroom, her mood lighting up at the sight of Dahyun. "Dahyunnie!" she said as she took a seat next to her.

Dahyun jumped at the sudden voice before looking up and giving Sana a small smile. "Hey," she greeted back.

Sana reached into her bag for a red package and held out the chocopie to Dahyun. While she personally wasn't fond of the snack, she always kept one in her bag in case Dahyun got hungry while studying together. 

"Since you didn't eat breakfast," Sana explained. 

Dahyun was surprised by the thoughtful gesture. "Thanks unnie," she said as she reached out to take her favorite snack.

Dahyun jolted as Sana’s hand brushed against hers while handing her the chocopie. Tingling electricity flowed from her hand to her heart and the snack packaging made a loud crinkling sound as Dahyun quickly jerked her hand away.

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest and her cheeks warmed as she looked away from Sana. She hated that Sana still had such an effect on her.

It hurt like hell for Dahyun to look at her. When she saw Sana, all she could think about was the way Sana cupped her face in her hands while kissing her and how meaningless the special moment turned out to be.

She wasn't angry at Sana for the drunk kiss. Rather, she was angry at herself after realizing how much she had fallen for Sana. Looking at Sana only reminded Dahyun of the horrible thing she had done: kiss her friend's crush. 

Mark didn't deserve any of this. Mark was always such a great friend to her since high school, one of her only friends who didn't bat an eye when she came out. Mark treated her like one of his guy friends when it came to talking about cute girls and dating advice. He'd threatened to beat up anyone who would dare to insult her for her sexuality and taught her how to play basketball so she could impress her crush on the girl's team. He really didn't deserve this.

Dahyun ruined the one chance she had to pay Mark back for all the things he had done for her. She fell for the one girl that was off limits. And it's not like she even reciprocated Dahyun’s feelings.

She gripped her pen more tightly, staring at her blank page of notes. 

"Are you okay?" Sana asked softly, placing a gentle hand on her forearm. 

Dahyun’s heart lurched again and she straightened up, shifting both her body and her notebook away from Sana. Sana's hand dropped from her forearm at the sudden movement. 

"Yeah, I'm okay," Dahyun said quickly. "I'm just stressed. Midterms this week, you know?"

"Oh okay…" Sana looked at her, unconvinced. There was something off about Dahyun’s tone; she sounded distant and uncomfortable. It worried Sana, but she felt too nervous to press for further info. She shifted back into her seat, giving Dahyun the space she seemed to want.

Dahyun didn't look at her for the remainder of class. Instead, she focused solely on the professor and on taking notes. She didn't steal glances at Sana like she normally did in class. She didn't send smiles or funny faces at her or lean over to draw silly figures on Sana’s notes the way Sana had grown used to.

Sana chewed on her lip as her eyes continued to flit between the board and Dahyun. Why was Dahyun so distant? First she skipped their usual breakfast without telling her and now this. Did she do something wrong? Sana racked her head for any possible reason that Dahyun could be upset at her and came up empty. 

But something had to be wrong, didn't it? Dahyun was acting so strange and there had to be a sensible reason for it. Sana must've done something wrong for her to act like this out of the blue. She recapped the last couple days. Friday, Dahyun had surprised her with her favorite green tea latte and they had watched a movie together while cuddling. Saturday, they paired up as partners for Monopoly and charades for the group’s monthly game night and had a blast. Sunday...what the hell did she do? She knew they all went to the party, but she couldn’t recollect talking to Dahyun. Then again, her memory was pretty hazy.

Sana fidgeted throughout the entire lecture, unable to focus on anything but Dahyun. When class ended, Dahyun got up before Sana could say anything. "Sorry I have to run. I have a meeting,” she told her. Dahyun gave her a quick wave and rushed out the door. 

Sana’s shoulders slumped and she began to pack her bag by herself.

* * *

**Later that night**

Sana stared at the message on her screen, her shoulders slumping again. Her arms were crossed on the table and she rested her head on top of them.

**Dahyunnie 6:32pm:** sorry unnie something came up

**Dahyunnie 6:32pm:** I won't be able to come to the library today

Something was definitely wrong. This was the third time today that Dahyun was being weird and avoiding her. Once is chance, twice is coincidence, third time’s a pattern. There was no disputing something was going on.

Sana closed her chem textbook. She had been waiting for Dahyun to show up for over an hour, hoping they would do their homework together like they did every night. Only now, that routine was broken.

There was no way Sana could focus on her homework at the moment. She began to gather her things when her phone buzzed again. 

**Mark Tuan 6:38pm:** Sana, we're still on for friday right?

Sana groaned softly after reading the message and she flipped her phone over. She pinched the bridge of her nose. She shouldn't have agreed to a second date. And now it was too late to cancel without seeming like a jerk. 

“I can’t do this right now,” she muttered as she finished packing up her things.

* * *

“You’re back from the library early today,” her roommate commented as Sana walked in and kicked off her shoes.

“Yeah, I didn’t feel like staying too late,” Sana told her.

Mina could tell something was wrong by the tinge of sadness she heard in Sana’s voice. It was unlike her. This bright and bubbly girl had turned to one lacking in both energy and smiles. Sana dropped her bag on the floor and flopped on her bed. 

“Are you okay, Sana?” she asked, concerned.

“I feel like crap,” Sana responded.

“Do you still have a headache?”

Sana shook her head. “No, Momo left me some aspirin and it helped. Today just sucked.”

“Any particular reason why?”

Sana stared at the ceiling, wondering if she should just tell Mina. She went for it. “I think Dahyun’s avoiding me,” she admitted. Mina raised a surprised eyebrow. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. She was weird and distant during chem and she blew me off for both breakfast and for the library.”

“Maybe it wasn’t intentional. That doesn’t sound like Dahyun,” Mina said with uncertainty. 

“But there’s no other explanation for it. I must’ve upset her somehow. I just...I don’t know what I did wrong.” 

Mina paused. It was starting to sound like Dahyun was avoiding her due to the drunk kiss. Maybe she felt awkward about the whole situation. 

Sana sat up and glanced back at Mina, who was suspiciously quiet. “You know something, don’t you?” she questioned, studying her roommate’s face.

“I probably shouldn’t be the one to tell you…” Mina said hesitantly. 

Sana shot her desperate look. “Please just tell me,” she pleaded. “It’s driving me crazy.”

Pity pinched Mina’s heart as she saw the pain on her friend’s face. She sighed. “Sana,” she began slowly. “Do you remember what happened at the party?”

Sana shook her head. 

“Momo said you kissed Dahyun when you were drunk. On the lips.”

Sana froze. The choppy memory flashed across her mind. How Dahyun looked so beautiful and kissable in that moment. How Sana kissed her soft lips and fireworks exploded in her chest. How Dahyun tried to pull away from the kiss.

_ Fuck. So that’s why she’s avoiding me.  _

_ Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. _

Her breathing quickened as the panic started to settle in. “I need to talk to her,” she said as she scrambled up from the bed.

“Sana, wait.” Sana looked back. “Do it tomorrow. When you’ve calmed down and organized your thoughts,” Mina suggested.

“No - I need to do it now,” Sana protested frantically, starting to put on her shoes. 

"This can wait. Dahyun's not angry at you and you shouldn't rush this," she tried again.

Sana shook her head vehemently, picking up her bag. 

“Sana…” Mina stepped closer to her, trying to calm her down.

“You don’t understand Mina!” Sana bursted out. 

“I think I do,” Mina said softly as she pieced it all together. Why Sana kissed Dahyun on the lips when she’s never done that before while drunk. Why Sana was so upset at Dahyun for avoiding her. Why Sana seemed so panicked in this moment. "You like Dahyun, don't you?" 

The bag slipped from her hand and landed on the floor with a dull thump. Sana's eyes widened as her breath caught in her throat. Mina’s gaze seemed to pierce through her and Sana felt so exposed. 

“How,” she struggled to speak, her voice coming out as a whisper. “How did you know?”


	8. Oxygen

“How did you know?” The blood had long drained out of Sana’s face as she stared at Mina in disbelief. She knew Mina was super smart, but she had never expected her to piece it all together this quickly.

Mina gave her a soft smile. "I have my ways," she told her. Mina had an inkling that Sana liked Dahyun from the way she looked at her. Every morning when they had breakfast together, she'd notice how Sana would give Dahyun all of her attention when she spoke, too busy listening to remember to eat her food. Mina had found it funny how Sana’s fork would hang in midair, her food long forgotten as she gazed at Dahyun with such adoration. Dahyun could be talking about the most boring and mundane topic ever like doing laundry and Sana would hang onto every word she said.

Mina reached out and took her hand. "Now let's sit back down." Sana let her roommate lead her back to the bed to take a seat. 

Sana's shoulders slumped and she brought her knees to her chest, curling up. "I fucked up," she said, her voice muffled as she buried her face in her hands. "I fucked up big time."

Mina rubbed her shoulder, gently comforting her. "It'll be okay Sana. She'll forgive you."

"It's not just that," Sana said, tears starting to form in her eyes. She lifted her face from her hands, her fingers tangling into her hair as she clenched and unclenched her hands. "I should've never caught feelings for her," she whispered. 

Mina felt a little speechless at the confession, searching for comforting words to tell Sana but failed to. "You can't control who you like," she ended up saying, wrapping her arms around Sana. 

"I knew from the start she was off-limits and I still fell for her. And knowing that she'll never like me back-" Sana choked on her words as tears began to spill down her cheeks. Mina made a sympathetic noise as she pulled her friend closer, allowing Sana to bury her face in her shoulder.

"It’s not exactly what you want but at the very least she likes you as a friend. And your feelings will go away with time.”

"I think I fucked up that part too," Sana mumbled sadly. “I shouldn’t have drank so much yesterday. Now I might lose her as a friend.”

"You won't," Mina said, a little more firmly. "Dahyun is still your friend. One mistake won't chase her away. Sure it'll be awkward at first but things will go back to normal soon."

But Sana didn't see it happening anytime soon. Dahyun continued to avoid Sana for the rest of the week. She stopped coming to breakfast and to the library, making it so that the only time Sana could see her was in lectures or in lab. And even then Dahyun seemed to maintain a good distance from her. 

Sana had tried to apologize to Dahyun the next time she saw her. Dahyun had been packed up and ready to leave when Sana had grabbed her wrist. Dahyun had turned around, surprised. "I'm sorry about what happened on Sunday," she had told her softly.

Sana remembered how Dahyun had faked a smile and told her not to worry about it before she ran off again. It was like Dahyun couldn't stand to even breathe the same air as her.

Fuck.

Maybe this was the new normal, living in a world where Kim Dahyun didn't want to be around at Sana. And it was a world that Sana didn't want to live in.

* * *

**New notification for group Operation Protect Satang**

**Momo💍 2:25pm:** yall whos ready for part 2

 **Momo💍2:25pm** : friday, 5pm, cafe cocoa

 **Momo💍2:25pm** : whos in?

 **Nabong 🐰 2:26pm:** ofc me

 **The og no jam bro ✌ 2:26pm** : another coffee shop? Again?

 **Nabong 🐰 2:26pm** : how basic

 **The og no jam bro ✌ 2:27pm** : wheres the flavor 🤦

 **Chaeng 🐯 2:29pm** : count me in!

 **Chewy 🐶 2:30pm** : momo unnie if you buy me a frapp this time i'll come

 **Momo💍 2:31pm** : okay deal

 **God Jihyo 😇 2:33pm** : i have work then so i cant come

 **Minari 🐧 2:34pm** : me neither i have a meeting 

**Momo💍 2:34pm** : fine fine you two are excused 

**Momo💍 2:35pm** : what about you Dahyun? I can see you reading everything 

Dahyun grimaced, realizing she’d been caught. She typed out an excuse.

**Dubu 🦅 2:36pm** : no i have plans then

 **Momo💍 2:36pm** : cancel them

 **Dubu 🦅 2:37pm** : i cant. Its for class :/

 **Momo💍 2:37pm** : okayy

 **Momo💍 2:37pm** : but NEXT time you definitely have to come

 **Nabong 🐰 2:38pm** : will he even make it to a 3rd date ㅋㅋㅋ

 **Momo💍 2:38pm** : we shall see

* * *

**Friday**

Sana didn't really know what she was doing here. Mark's words would go through one ear and out the other and she was nodding as if she was listening to him. In her heart, she had already decided that she only liked Dahyun, and it was hard to pay attention to anyone else.

She fiddled with her cup of ice chai latte, running her fingers against the side and watching the droplets of condensation collect on her skin. It was the wrong drink again. 

On their last date, Mark had promised to order her favorite drink next time after buying her the wrong drink. And yet, he had once again forgotten and had gotten her a chai instead of green tea.

When she thought about it, it was always Dahyun who had gotten her order right. She'd surprise Sana occasionally with green tea lattes from her favorite cafe and it warmed her heart knowing that Dahyun had remembered her order despite mentioning it only once.

It sucked that she couldn't get Dahyun out of her mind. Everything Sana looked at seemed to tie back to Dahyun and reminded Sana of how much she missed the younger girl. 

"Sana? Are you alright?" Mark asked, placing his hand gently over hers and interrupting her thoughts. The unexpected touch made Sana jolt and straighten up.

"Yeah I'm fine," she said quickly, feigning a bright smile. She quickly retracted her hand from under Mark's, lifting her cup and sipping her drink instead. 

_Why couldn't this date be over already?_ Sana felt like a jerk for thinking that, but in her defense this date was painful to sit through. So far they've already experienced 2 awkward silences and each time Mark stumbled to switch the subject. The questions he asked were also very prodding and and made the conversation very choppy. It was almost like she was at an interview rather than a date because he'd ask question after question over the most trivial things Sana said. She felt bad because she knew Mark was trying but she was finding it harder and harder to respond back to him. 

Sana wondered if her friends were spying on her again. She usually didn't mind but today was different. She really hoped they weren’t spying considering how awkward this date was, but they probably were seeing how Momo’s eyes lit up mischievously when she mentioned she was going on another date. Her eyes began to wander around the area for any sign of them but they seemed to be really well hidden this time.

Well, except for one person. Her eyes landed on Momo, who was not so subtly peeking out from behind a tree. She caught her gaze and Momo's eyes widened as Sana raised an eyebrow at her. 

**Operation Protect Satang**

**Momo💍 6:30pm** : crap I got caught

 **Momo💍 6:32pm** : now they’re moving 😭

 **The og no jam bro ✌ 6:33pm** : Anyone got a good view?

 **Chaeng 🐯 6:33pm** : me

 **Chaeng 🐯 6:34pm** : they're walking into the convenience store

 **Nabong 🐰 6:35pm** : ugh i don't feel like moving 

**Momo💍 6:36pm:** jeongyeon tell nayeon to move her ass

 **The og no jam bro ✌ 6:36pm** : on it

“Let’s go Nabongs,” Jeongyeon said, pulling Nayeon up to her feet. 

Nayeon made a face. “They’re already so far away,” she whined. “I’d rather stay here with you.” She pouted.

The show of aegyo didn’t work on Jeongyeon. “Let’s move before they get too far.”

Nayeon pouted harder and crossed her arms.

Jeongyeon sighed. “Next week, for our spring break vacation, I’ll literally pay you in all the kisses you want.” 

Nayeon brightened up. It was rare for Jeongyeon to offer such shows of affection. “Then what are we waiting for? We got to move!” She tugged Jeongyeon out of their hiding place and they quickly moved to their next location.

* * *

Sana took a glance at her phone as they walked up to the store. “I don't think I can stay that much longer," she told Mark as they entered. "I heard there's gonna be a thunderstorm in about an hour." She flashed her gaze up at the sky, the sun slowly becoming covered by gray clouds. It was making her a little nervous.

"It's fine, we can just go indoors or something," Mark said as he scanned the aisles of food.

"I'm scared of thunder, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," Mark laughed nervously, looking back at her. “I can’t believe you’re afraid of thunder. It's such a weird phobia."

Sana's forehead creased and her eyes tightened at the comment. "Last time you said it was normal," she said, a little offended and confused. She specifically remembered that she had texted Mark about it the same night that Dahyun had comforted her in the music room throughout the thunderstorm. He had been so kind and reassured her that it was okay to be scared. She had been warmed by the fact that both Dahyun and Mark didn't find her phobia as strange as other people. Except now it seemed like there was one less person in her life who understood her fear.

"Oh uh I didn't mean it like that!" Mark stuttered, trying to remember when he said that. Maybe Dahyun had written it in one of her texts to Sana. "I mean, it's a unique phobia b-but it's normal to be scared."

"Mhmm." Sana began to turn her gaze on the snack aisle. 

**The og no jam bro ✌ 6:42pm** : oof shes frowning

 **The og no jam bro ✌ 6:42pm** : she looks kinda annoyed

 **Nabong 🐰 6:43pm** : haha Mark's going pale

 **Nabong 🐰 6:43pm** : this is gold

 **Nabong 🐰 6:44pm** : im gonna take a photo

“I’m sorry I said that,” Mark apologized. “I didn’t mean to be hurtful.”

Sana softened. “It’s okay Mark,” she told him. “And I’m sorry for being a little moody today. I haven’t had the best week but I shouldn’t be taking that out on you.”

Mark smiled back kindly at her. “Don’t worry about it. Let me grab a couple things and after I can walk you back before it starts raining.”

“That sounds good.” Sana gave him a smile. 

She looked at the rows of snacks as Mark picked out some protein bars for practice later. Her eyes landed on the limited edition double chocolate chocopies and couldn’t help but wonder if Dahyun would like them. The girl adored anything chocolate and Sana found herself picking up the box.

"Huh, I didn't know you also liked chocopies. I only know one other person who does," said Mark. "Dubu's crazy for them."

Sana smiled softly, thinking about how Dahyun’s eyes lit up while munching on the snack and how adorable she looked. She was debating on whether to buy the chocopies when Mark gently plucked it out of her hands.

“I’ll buy it for you,” he offered and before she could protest, he was already halfway to the cashier to checkout. 

They walked out of the convenience store and Mark handed her the bag with Dahyun’s favorite snack in them. 

“It’s almost time for your basketball practice, isn’t it?” Sana asked as she checked the time.

“Oh, you’re right.”

“I can walk back by myself from here. You should get to practice,” Sana said.

“You sure?” Mark asked. “I don’t mind either way.”

“I’m sure.” Sana smiled. “Thanks for today Mark. And for the chocopies.”

“No problem.” He smiled back. Mark suddenly stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on her waist. He slowly leaned in, his eyes fluttering shut.

**Chaeng 🐯 6:54pm** : holy shit he's leaning in

 **Chaeng 🐯 6:54pm** : ew ew ew I'm too young for this

 **Chewy 🐶 6:54pm** : don't be dramatic chaeyoung you're not that innocent

 **Chewy 🐶 6:54pm** : but this is pretty ew

Sana panicked as she realized what Mark was trying to do. She shifted her face slightly to the left at the last second, his lips missing hers and landing on her cheek instead.

 **Nabong 🐰 6:54pm** : 🤢

 **Momo💍 6:54pm** : i can't see anything did he kiss her?!?!

 **Momo💍 6:54pm** : if so he’s dead!!!

C **haeng 🐯 6:54pm** : idk if its on the lips i couldn't watch

 **Chewy 🐶 6:54pm** : no cheek 

**Chewy 🐶 6:54pm** : sana turned last minute

 **Chewy 🐶 6:55pm** : oh now she's backing away

 **The og no jam bro ✌ 6:55pm** : she looks uncomfortable...

 **Momo💍 6:55pm** : well somebody do something!!!

 **Nabong 🐰 6:55pm** : fineee

Sana was trying to find a way to politely excuse herself when two arms flung around her shoulders. She jumped in surprise and spun around.

"Sana!! I haven't seen you in _forever!_ " Nayeon yelled out as she released Sana. “Oh my gosh how are you?" Sana stared at her like she grew another head. She literally saw this girl at lunch today.

Nayeon was acting way too weird and friendly and Sana realized she was giving her an opening to leave. 

"Hey Nayeon unnie," she greeted back. 

Nayeon took a step back and dramatically looked between Mark and Sana. "Oh wait am I interrupting something? I'm soo sorry!" 

Mark shook his head quickly. "No it's okay. We were just about to say goodbye anyways."

"Oh great!" Nayeon looped her arm around Sana's. "We gotta get dinner together and catch up!" She started pulling Sana away without even waiting for a response. 

Sana flashed an apologetic smile at Mark. "I'll text you," she promised as she was dragged away. Mark gave her a small smile and waved her goodbye.

"That was single-handedly the most painful date I've ever seen," Nayeon told her once they were out of ear-shot. 

Sana fiddled with her bag. “It wasn’t all bad,” she protested weakly.

Nayeon took notice of the bag as it made a crinkling noise. “Ooh you bought snacks?” She reached in, pulling out the box of chocopies. She wrinkled her nose. “Since when do you like chocopies? Didn't you say you hate them?"

"Dahyun likes them," Sana murmured, grabbing the box back.

"Well how come you didn't buy the snack I like? Playing favorites I see," Nayeon teased.

Sana blushed a little. "No I'm not," she insisted. 

"Suree," Nayeon said, giving her a smug look. Sana couldn't tell how much Nayeon really knew about them and if someone had told her about the kiss. 

Sana ended up dropping it, deciding that it was safer to leave it alone than to accidentally reveal more information. 

Nayeon watched as Sana grew silent and smirked at the light blush resting on her cheeks. There was something definitely going on between Dahyun and Sana. And Nayeon was going to find out what.

* * *

**Monday**

"Did everyone finish getting their things from the carrier?” Jihyo asked as the rest of the girls gathered around her with their bags and suitcases. After an hour-long flight and an hour-long drive on the bus, they had finally made it to their hotel on Jeju Island for spring break.

Jeongyeon craned her neck and counted heads and gave Jihyo a thumbs up. “We’re good!”

They began to head towards the hotel entrance. 

“Jeju is so beautiful,” Mina murmured in awe as she looked at the clear night skies and the tall mountains in the horizon.

“And they have good food,” Momo said as her hungry eyes fixated on the many restaurants surrounding the hotel. 

“They’re all probably closing soon,” Chaeyoung pointed out. “It’s getting kinda late.”

“If we hurry up and book rooms, we can still probably make it before closing time,” Jihyo suggested.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll go book the rooms and you guys can stay in the lounge and google some places that aren’t closed yet,” said Nayeon.

“Remember to book three triples,” Jihyo called out after her as Nayeon walked to the front desk. She smiled mischievously but no one could see with her back turned to them.

The other eight girls found a place to sit in the lounge. Sana sat down next to Mina and watched as Dahyun sat in the seat furthest away from her by Jeongyeon. Sadness stirred in Sana’s chest. She had been looking forward to this trip to Jeju for months now but it sucked that Dahyun was spending the entire time ignoring her.

She’d been the same on the bus ride and plane ride here, always opting to sit far away from Sana. If this was how it was going to be the entire spring break, Sana didn’t know how she would make it through without crying.

“This place. We have to go to this place,” Momo said excitedly as she pushed the phone directly in front of Jihyo. “All you can eat korean barbecue!”

Jihyo took the phone from her, scrolling through the extra details. “Looks nice,” she commented. “And it doesn’t close until 2. Does that sound good to everyone?”

“Yup,” the eight of them agreed.

Right on time, Nayeon strolled back up to them. "We got rooms," Nayeon called out, flashing four room cards like a fan. She handed the first one to Jihyo. "You get the triple with lucky me and Tzuyu."

"Momo and Jeongyeon get the double," she handed another card to Momo.

"And I got Michaeng a single room cause I’m the most wonderful friend ever." Before Chaeyoung could take the card, Nayeong continued. "But if I hear any weird noises at night, I'll split you up," she warned. 

Chaeyoung flushed red, snatching the card from her hand. "You and your dirty mind Nabong," she grumbled.

Nayeon smirked. "And finally, we got a room for Sana and Dahyun. Here you go." She held out the card to Dahyun while Sana stared at her hands. Before Dahyun could take it, Jihyo spoke up.

"Nayeon, what the hell is with this room placement?" Jihyo demanded. "It was supposed to be three people per room, like we discussed."

"I picked according to our budget. And most of the triples were taken so I adjusted the plan a bit," Nayeon said innocently. "Besides, I actually saved us some money so you should be thanking me."

"Why’d you pair Dahyun and Sana together?" Jihyo asked, knowing the two still felt awkward around each other after what happened last week. Sana and Dahyun both stared at the floor.

Nayeon raised an amused eyebrow. "Uh cause they're close friends?" She replied and the corner of her lips began to curl up with mischief. "Unless… there's something we should know about them?" 

Chaeyoung, Jeongyeon, and Tzuyu looked at Jihyo with confusion and interest while the other girls who knew of the kiss suddenly found their cuticles to be more interesting. Jihyo wanted to wipe the smirk off of Nayeon's face. Nayeon couldn’t possibly have known about the drunk kiss, considering she was drunker than Sana that night. Jihyo figured that Nayeon was just poking around for gossip and tea and she wasn't about to give her any details.

"No," she said through gritted teeth, giving Nayeon a death stare. She sighed and switched the subject. “Let’s just drop off our stuff and then we can go to that restaurant Momo wants to try.”

Everyone parted ways to their respective rooms. Jeongyeon leaned over to Nayeon. “I thought you said we’d room together,” Jeongyeon said disappointedly. 

“I was trying to but it was too expensive to get an extra room,” Nayeon said.

“Why couldn’t we room in that single you gave to Sana and Dahyun?” Jeongyeon questioned. Her eyes suddenly narrowed as she put two and two together. “Wait a second. It’s all because of that dumb bet, isn’t it?” The two had made a silly bet yesterday on whether something would happen between Sana and Dahyun. Nayeon claimed that there was definitely tension between them, while Jeongyeon couldn’t really see their friendship change into something more.

Nayeon grinned sheepishly. “You did say you’d give me 50000 won if I was right.”

“I didn’t think you’d be this serious,” Jeongyeon protested. “I thought you were joking.”

“Oh, I’m deadly serious. I’m so confident that I’ll up the stakes on this bet,” Nayeon bragged.

“Which is?”

“If I’m wrong about them, then I’ll give you 70000 won _and_ tell everyone that we’ve been back together for months,” Nayeon whispered in her ear.

Jeongyeon raised an interested eyebrow. Nayeon was constantly pulling away from the idea of revealing their relationship to their friends, and it was the first time in weeks where Nayeon seemed to actually consider it. It was a little questionable that Nayeon was doing this for a bet, but Jeongyeon was confident it was one that Nayeon would lose. 

“Fine, deal,” Jeongyeon said. 

* * *

Sana kept her distance as she trailed behind Dahyun. Before she reached the elevator, Mina tugged on Sana's sleeve and pulled her aside. "You can room with me instead if you want. Chaeyoung wouldn't mind," she offered quietly. Her concerned eyes searched Sana’s. 

Sana shook her head. "Thanks Mina. But Dahyun's been avoiding me all week and I think this might be my only chance to talk to her."

Mina nodded grimly and gave her a soft smile and gentle pat on her arm. "Good luck." She turned and rushed after her girlfriend while Sana walked back to where Dahyun was standing, waiting for the elevator.

Dahyun glanced at her and they exchanged awkward smiles. “Guess it’s just us two,” Sana said.

Dahyun nodded, her eyes focused on the elevator doors. Dahyun’s hand tightened around the handle of her suitcase as she wheeled it into the opened elevator. It still hurt like hell to look at Sana. Dahyun thought that distancing herself from Sana over the past week would get rid of the pain, but all it did was make her miss Sana more. But it had to be this way. If she spent any more time with Sana than necessary, she feared her true feelings would bubble up and ruin their friendship. 

The two didn’t talk for the rest of the elevator ride. They found their room and Dahyun swiped the card, opening the door.

“Oh.”

There was only one bed. This had to be the wrong room. Sana’s eyes nervously flitted from the room card to the number on the door, hoping they had gotten it wrong. Nope. Sana swore silently that she would murder Nayeon later.

"I'll sleep on the couch," Dahyun quickly offered, brushing quickly past Sana and wheeling her stuff there. She avoided all eye contact as Sana closed the door and walked towards the bed. Dahyun busied herself with unpacking, trying her best to ignore the fact that she was trapped in this room with her crush out of all people. The silence in the room was killing both of them and their chests were filled with agonizing tension. 

Sana spoke up first. “When will you stop avoiding me?”

Dahyun paused, surprise flooding her body at the unexpected question. She turned around slowly. “I’m not…” she denied weakly but Sana could see right through her. 

“Is it about the party? Because Dahyun, I’m so sorry about the kiss,” Sana apologized.

“Unnie, you’ve apologized like ten times already.” Dahyun gave her a shaky smile. “It’s okay, I know you didn't mean it.”

Sana swallowed hard, seeing the sad look on Dahyun’s face that she was trying to hide.

"But I did mean it," Sana blurted out impulsively. "I like you so much Dahyun."

Dahyun froze as shock spread across her face and Sana’s eyes widened at the words that just slipped out of her mouth. Crap. She might’ve just made this situation worse. She tried to backpedal and undo the damage. 

"I'm not going to deny my feelings for you. And I know you don't feel the same but please don't push me away," Sana pleaded and Dahyun’s heart broke at how pained Sana looked. "I just want my friend back. And I-I can stop these feelings- just give me some time and-"

Dahyun crossed the room and pressed her lips against Sana’s, cutting her off. One of her hands cupped Sana’s face, her thumb rubbing away the tear sliding down her cheek. Guilt stirred in her chest as she realized that Sana had interpreted her distance the wrong way. Dahyun kissed Sana harder as she kissed back, trying to wipe away the hurt on Sana’s face.

She pulled away briefly as they both tried to catch their breaths, gazing into Sana’s eyes. "I don't want to be just friends. I want to be something more to you, Sana,” Dahyun confessed quietly and the dazed vulnerable look on Sana’s face transformed into relief, excitement, and pure joy. 

Sana pulled her into another kiss, her arms wrapping around her neck as soft lips melted on soft lips. Dahyun relaxed in her embrace, both hands now gently cradling Sana’s face as if she was holding the world in her palms. Because in a way, she was. Dahyun didn’t realize how much of her life included Sana until after she pushed her away.

Sana’s lips burned and tingled the more they moved against Dahyun’s and she wondered if any sensation would ever surpass this moment. She was used to being a happy and positive person and yet it still overwhelmed her how ridiculously happy Dahyun made her. Her heart burst and shone with a kaleidoscope of bright lights as her dream came true. _Dahyun likes me back_ , Sana thought joyfully as she parted her lips and Dahyun’s tongue touched hers.

Their hearts beated at the same quick and fluttering pace even as they slowed down the kiss, exploring each others’ mouths. Dahyun doesn’t understand how she can be running out of air and yet feel like Sana is her oxygen.

Their noses bumped clumsy together as they tried to deepen the kiss and Sana giggled, the sound more beautiful and musical than any piano composition Dahyun has ever played. They slowly pulled away, chests heaving for much needed air.

Sana leaned her forehead against Dahyun’s. She looked at her with such adoration, and Dahyun melted at the sight. “I like you so, so much Kim Dahyun,” she whispered again, her hand reaching down to lace her fingers with Dahyun’s. 

Dahyun’s heart beated ridiculously fast as she whispered back what she had been keeping to herself the past two months.

“I like you so much, Sana.”


End file.
